More than 50 Bollywood filmmakers, actors and writers on Wednesday urged Indians not to vote for the party of Hindu nationalist hardliner Narendra Modi in the ongoing general election.

The group signed an appeal calling on Indians to choose a "secular" party, without naming Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Turnout in India's multi-phase election is so far almost eight percentage points higher than last time, data showed Wednesday, reflecting enthusiasm for polls expected to bring the opposition Hindu nationalists to power.

Polling in five of the ten phases has been completed, with the biggest day of voting set for Thursday. The last ballots will be cast on May 12 and final counting is scheduled for May 16.

A Tibetan man in China burned himself to death on Tuesday, overseas media and a rights group reported, the latest in a string of self-immolation protests in recent years.

Thinley Namgyal, 32, died soon after he set himself alight in Kardze prefecture in Sichuan province, according to British-based advocacy group Free Tibet and the US-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA).

India's Maoist rebels have issued a public apology after a deadly weekend landmine attack on a bus carrying election officials, calling it a "big mistake".

Seven temporary workers for the Election Commission were killed last Saturday in the restive central state of Chhattisgarh when the bus they were traveling in exploded.

India's Hindu nationalist opposition party and its allies are on course to win an overall parliamentary majority in the world's biggest election currently underway, according to a new poll.

The survey by the NDTV network forecast that the opposition alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win 275 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha, 16 more than predicted in the last survey a month ago.

A second book published Monday accuses India's premier of being weak and unable to stem corruption on his watch, further embarrassing the ruling Congress party in the midst of a bitter poll campaign.

The new book has been written by India's former coal secretary P.C. Parakh who retired in 2005 and was later implicated in the so-called Coalgate scandal related to allocation of mining rights.

The head of India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), tipped to win ongoing national elections, has ruled out any change in the country's "no-first-use" nuclear weapons policy.

The BJP sparked speculation about an end to the doctrine last week when its manifesto said that the party would "revise and update" India's policy.

Militants Sunday killed two policemen guarding the home of a pro-India politician in Indian Kashmir in the first such attack in the restive region since national elections got underway, police said.

Two rebels sprayed the home of a National Conference politician with bullets in the town of Khrew, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the main city of Srinagar.

Rahul Gandhi, prime ministerial candidate for India's ruling Congress party, on Saturday denied allegations he had made a personal attack related to opposition front-runner Narendra Modi's belated admission he is married.

Hardliner Modi, 63, the candidate for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who is tipped to win the elections, admitted this week he had a wife after years of rumors surrounding her existence.

Maoist rebels killed 14 people in two poll-related blasts Saturday in an insurgency-hit region of central India, police said, highlighting the major security challenges faced in staging the nation's marathon general elections.

The violence, the deadliest since the elections began last Monday, came as Indians cast ballots in the southern resort state of Goa and in the far-flung northeast in another round of the multi-phase elections that wind up May 12 with results four days later.