A jawan of the Indo Tibetan Border Police was killed in a blast triggered by Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district where polling for the second phase of assembly elections took place on Friday, the police said.
The incident took place near Bade Gobra village under Mainpur police station area when a polling team escorted by security personnel was returning after the voting was over, a senior police official said.
Polling across 70 constituencies in the state was held from 8 am to 5 pm. But in nine polling booths in the Maoist-affected Bindranawagarh constituency in Gariaband district, voting was held from 7 am to 3 pm for security reasons.
Bade Gobra was among these nine booths in Bindranawagarh which borders on neighbouring Odisha.
As election officials escorted by security personnel were returning to Mainpur after the polling ended, Maoists triggered a blast that killed head constable Joginder Singh of the ITBP on the spot, said the police official. -- PTI