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Patna, April 23 (IANS) Three Janata Dal-United (JD-U) supporters were killed and four seriously injured in firing by a group of unidentified men in a village in Vaishali district, ahead of the second round of panchayat polls in Bihar, police said Saturday.
Police said that the men opened indiscriminate fire at the JD-U supporters in Bahrampur village Friday night. The second phase is being held Sunday.
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The victims were close to Raghopur JD-U legislator Satish Kumar, who defeated former chief minister Rabri Devi in last year's assembly polls, a district official said.
According to police, the firing was the outcome of political rivalry in the ongoing panchayat polls.
"The situation was tense after the firing. Heavy police deployment has been made in the area," Superintendent of Police (Vaishali) Siddharth Mohan Jain said.
Contrary to the state government's claim of ensuring peaceful polls there have been many reports of violent clashes between rival groups.
The first round of Bihar's 10-phase panchayat polls Wednesday saw a police officer being killed in a Maoist attack in Jamui district. Around half a dozen people were injured in clashes between rival groups in various parts of the state, officials said.
The Maoists have issued a poll boycott call and threatened to disrupt the elections.
Nearly 2.75 lakh 'troublemakers and habitual offenders' have signed bonds promising not to disrupt the polling process, police said. Earlier, the state Election Commission made it clear that if any candidate is attacked or intimidated, his rival will be named in the police report.
The 10-phase polls for 262,000 panchayat posts will end May 28.
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