KATHMANDU, May 4: Nepalese authorities ordered new polls in six districts after factional clashes left five dead and nearly 50 injured during the first phase of general elections, officials said Tuesday, reports AFP.

The new vote will be held over the weekend after the polls in 42 polling centres in the six districts were cancelled due to the violence.

The worst hit area was Rautahat district. 190 kilometres (125 miles) south of the capital Kathmandu.

Bloody clashes broke out in four constituencies between activists of ruling Nepali Congress and its partner in the outgoing coalition, the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist* and Leninist (NCP-UML). a home ministry spokesman said.

The five dead included a suspected Maoist rebel "shot by the security guards after he tried to throw, a powerful grenade at a police station." a police spokesman said.

Election Commission Secretary Purussottam Dhakal said fears of violence had kept voters away in Rolpa and Rukum districts, the two main Maoist flashpoints, where turnout was only between 25 to 30 per cent.

Serious unrest had been avoided due to a heavy presence of security forces, he said, denying reports a sixth person had been killed in Dhading.

More than 40,000 police and army personnel have been mobilized for the polls in the Himalayan kingdom which only embraced democracy in 1990 with the end of the authoritarian rule of the king.

Elsewhere turnout for the first stage of the staggered elections was between 55 to 60 percent, he added.

The rest of the country's 13.5 million voters will cast their ballots for the 205-member lower house of parliament on May 17.

"We are relieved that the first phase of general election has concluded peacefully without major incidents nor clashes with the Maoists who had threatened to attack the candidates and the voters." a home ministry senior official said.

The Maoists, who model themselves on Peru's Shining Path and want to overturn the constitutional monarchy, had called for a polls boycott.

"Minor skirmishes occur everywhere when general elections are held in our part of the world but we are relieved the first phase of polling concluded peacefully with the cooperation

of the general public and the political parties." the official

Commission officials said the ballot boxes have been transferred to district centers under army guard and were under close watch by representatives of various political parties.

Campaigning also started for stalled elections in two constituencies in Kathmandu, postponed after the death of former premier and chairman of the NCP-UML main communist party, Man Mohan Adhikari. last week.

Opinion polls and political observers predict the centrist Nepali Congress led by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala will emerge as the largest single party in parliament, followed by the NCP-UML.

But there is a large question mark over whether the Nepali Congress can Secure the minimum 103 seats required for a simple majority.

More than 2.200 candidates from 38 different parties are contesting the election.

The multi-party system was installed after a bloody prodemocracy uprising in 1990. which claimed 500 lives, overturned 30 years of absolute rule by the monarchy.