The elections have begun. But the proceedings have not been peaceful. In the first round of polling to the 13th Lok Sabha on Sunday, six people were killed in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab in clashes with the police.In Cuddapah alone, four persons were killed in police firing. The Congress has brought charges of rigging in Andhra Pradesh too.The Election Commission has ordered repolling in 60 seats in Andhra.

In Punjab, union minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was involved in a skirmish with a press photogapher while 55 per cent of the voters turned out throughout the state. A Congress polling agent was killed in Amritsar.At Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the BJP leader, L.K.Advani, was heckled and obstructed by polling agents of his rival T.N.Seshan who said that his voting papers were not valid since they did not have his father's name on them. In Maharshtra, the voting was 57. per cent and there was a turnout of around 60 per cent in the Naxalite-dominated areas of Chandrapur and Garchirali.