New Delhi, April 16 2009: THE WORLD'S biggest democratic exercise got off to bloody start today with Maoist rebels killing at least 17 people as India began voting in a month-long general election that looks certain to produce another fragile coalition government.

The par l iamentar y polls are spread over five polling days between today and May 13 so that all of India's 714 million registered voters can cast their ballots at more than 828,804 polling stations across the country.

Up to 2.1 million security personnel have been deployed to prevent another terrorist attack like the one on Mumbai in November, whose only surviving perpetrator, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, went on trial in the city yesterday.

But that did not stop the Maoists, also known as Naxalites, who have a strong presence in 170 of India's 602 administrative districts, mainly in central and eastern India, and have threatened to disrupt the poll and cut off the hands of anyone who votes.

Police said Naxalites � named after the village where they launched their movement in 1967 � killed five election officials in a landmine attack in the eastern state of Chhatisgarh and kidnapped four more in the neighbouring state of Jharkand.

They also killed at least 12 police and paramilitary officers � and scared off many voters � in several attacks on polling stations and security forces in the states of Chhatisgarh, Jharkand, Orissa and Bihar.

The four states in India's "red corridor" are among India's least developed and are all included in the first phase of polling, which involves about 140 million voters in central, eastern and northeastern India.

Some election officials even had to ride elephants to reach remote polling stations near the northeastern border with Myanmar, while others made two-day sea journeys to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.

Results are expected on May 16, but the make-up of the new government may not become clear for days or weeks beyond that as the two main parties struggle to build the biggest alliance.

Since the 2004 election, India has been ruled by an ungainly coalition led by the Congress Party under Sonia Gandhi, its Italian-born leader, with Manmohan Singh, a mild-mannered 76-year-old economist, as Prime Minister.

Its campaign centres around Rahul, Mrs Gandhi's 38-year-old son, who is being held out as Mr Singh's successor in an effort to appeal to young voters in a country where 51 per cent of the population is under 25 .

"Power must pass on to young politicians and Rahul has all qualities and abilities to be the prime minister," Mr Singh, who had a second heart bypass in January, said on Tuesday.

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