One suspected Maoist was shot dead while trying to set off an ambush near a polling booth in Dhangadhi municipality, Kailali, as voting for municipal seats kicked off on Wednesday morning.

Security sources said the suspected Maoist was shot and killed while trying to fix an electric wire to set off explosives near the polling booth in BP Primary School in Ward No. 10 of the municipality. The incident is yet to be verified independently.

Meanwhile, there were reports of explosions in different parts of Dhangadhi and Tikapur municipalities in the morning.

Reports from Biratnagar in Morang district said riot police and anti-election demonstrators of the seven agitating political parties clashed in different parts of the town. Protesters led by CPN (UML) leader Bhanu Koirala seized ballot papers from a polling station in Ward No. 15 of the municipality, reports added.

In the same municipality, police arrested Nepali Congress central leader and former minister Mahesh Acharya on charges of trying to disrupt the elections.

In Kathmandu, over a dozen seven-party activists were arrested from different anti-election demonstrations this morning. Voters’ turnout in various polling stations in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City and Bhaktapur Municipality was very low until 11:30 a.m.

Heavy security presence could be seen around polling stations in the Valley but there were no reports of violence during the voting.

Voting started in 33 municipalities of 28 districts around the country from 8:00 a.m.