Five people were killed in election related violence in India's isolated, north-eastern state of Manipur, police said on Saturday. Among those who died were a woman, a security guard and three election duty staff, when suspected tribal rebels attacked a polling booth in the state's Chandel district.
"The militants are suspected to be from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland faction," a police officer said. No group, however, has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. Strife-ridden Manipur, bordering Myanmar, is the first of five Indian states to go to polls in early 2012 to elect a state legislature.
The Congress party, which leads the federal coalition government, is expected to retain office. CorCom, an alliance of seven separatist Manipuri groups who view India as a colonial power, blamed the Congress government for "degeneration of the Manipuri society to the present state of social, moral, economic and political bankruptcy."
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