A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper deployed on election duty was killed on Sunday after a grenade in his possession accidentally exploded in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
The blast occurred when a team of C/70 Company of the BSF stationed at Katekalyan police station for was about to launch a search operation, a police officer said.
The patrolling team was moving out of the police station premises when the grenade kept in a pouch worn by Head Constable Balbeer Chand exploded.
He was seriously injured and immediately shifted to the Dantewada district hospital where doctors declared him dead, the official said.
Chand was a resident of Himachal Pradesh.
Dantewada is among 20 assembly constituencies which will go to the polls in the first phase of the two-phased elections on November 7.