At least one person was killed and eight others were injured in firing and clashes that marred the first phase of the panchayat polls on Sunday.

An average of 55 per cent voters exercised their franchise.

The state chief election commissioner (CEC), Ashok Kumar Chauhan, confirmed the death of one person in Nawada in firing between the supporters of two contestants but maintained that barring a few sporadic incidents of clashes, the first round of the 10-phase polls passed off peacefully.

Five persons suffered bullet injuries, when the supporters of two contestants for the post of mukhiya (panchayat head) - Dhananjay Singh and Sintu Singh - exchanged fire outside polling booth 10 in Daulatpura village of Nawada district's Narhat block.

The injured were rushed to a local primary health centre and one of them, Sunil, succumbed to injuries on way to the hospital.

The election commissioner said polling remained unaffected as senior police and administrative officers rushed to the spot after the clashes. In Muzaffarpur, villagers of Chakhna attacked BJP MLA Ashok Kumar Singh during the panchayat elections. The leader had allegedly gone to the spot to pacify villagers fighting to cast votes.

The EC received 48 complaints from the contestants. Majority concerned bogus voting and intimidation of voters belonging to weaker sections.

Chauhan said the EC would think over re-polling in polling booth number 35 under Kormadhu panchayat (Belaganj block) in Gaya district, where supporters of a particular candidate damaged the seal of ballot boxes.

In Jamui, Maoists damaged ballot papers at booth number 274 under Chaki block. In Purnea's Kasba Banauli panchayat, the poll for the post of sarpanch could not be held because of discrepancies in printing of ballot papers.

"In all these booths, re-polling will be conducted after review of the reports of respective district magistrates," he added.

A presiding officer, identified as Anupam Kumar, died of cardiac arrest at a polling booth under Patori block in Samastipur district. In Jehanabad, three persons were arrested from Kausa village under Madanganj block when they tried to snatch weapons from security personnel.

A total of 310 persons were arrested for their bid to vitiate the polling process.