Voting has begun amid tight security in key elections in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
Thousands of paramilitary troops have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling in 18 constituencies, the majority of them located in Maoist rebel strongholds in Bastar region.
Voting for the 90-member state assembly is being held in two phases on 11 November and 19 November.
Maoists have been operating in central and eastern India for four decades.
They demand land and jobs for the poor, and ultimately want to establish a "communist society" by overthrowing India's "semi-colonial, semi-feudal" form of rule.
The BBC Hindi's Salman Ravi in Chhattisgarh says voters will be flocking to over 4,000 polling stations to cast their ballots in Monday's elections.
More than 140 candidates, including Chief Minister Raman Singh of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are in the fray.
Authorities have moved over 150 polling stations from remote areas of Bastar region to more accessible locations for security of the voters, our correspondent says.
The principal contenders in Chhattisgarh are the ruling BJP and their main rival Congress party. The Communist party is a formidable force in the Maoist-affected areas.
There are unconfirmed reports that a paramilitary soldier was injured in a blast in Kanker area after polling began early on Monday.
And on Sunday, two paramilitary soldiers who were accompanying election workers to a polling station were injured in a blast blamed on the rebels in Rajnandgaon district, police said.
Key assembly elections are being held in five Indian states - Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram - from 11 November to 4 December. Votes will be counted on 8 December.
A total of 110 million voters will be eligible to cast their votes in the five states.
Correspondents say the polls will give a sense of how the electorate may vote in the general elections due in 2014.
