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People in several states of India have begun voting in the first of five stages in an electoral process that will last a month.
A total of 124 seats in the Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament, are up for grabs in Thursday's polls.
The first phase covers states in northern and eastern India that are beset by a range of violent conflicts involving tribal, Maoist and Muslim fighters.
On the eve of polling, at least 20 people died in two separate clashes between police and suspected Maoist fighters.
In the eastern state of Jharkhand, five Maoists and two security personnel were killed in a firefight, while in neighboring Bihar, about a dozen fighters were killed and several policemen wounded.
Special report
The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless laborers, have called for a boycott of the election and blocked roads to prevent officials from reaching polling stations.
Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, has described Maoist violence as the country's biggest internal security threat.
More than two million officers have been deployed to prevent unrest during the elections, which will use more than 1.3 million electronic voting machines in 828,804 polling stations and will end on May 13.
About 714 million people are eligible to cast ballots. The results are expected on May 16.
PHOTO CAPTION
Indian polling officers check documents and the list of voters on the eve of polling.
Al-Jazeera
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