Bihar records over 46 pc polling in four Lok Sabha seats till 5pm

Around 46.32 per cent of the 75 lakh voters in four Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar have exercised their franchise till 5 pm on Friday, officials said.

 

The polling began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm, a senior election official said.

 

The voters will decide the fate of 38 candidates in these four seats.

Tight security arrangements were in place at Nawada and Aurangabad, besides the reserved seats of Gaya and Jamui, where a majority of nearly 5,000 polling booths have been marked as "sensitive".

 

Over 49.95 per cent voters have exercised their franchise in Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency, 48.54 per cent in Gaya, 47.09 per cent in Jamui and 40.20 per cent in Nawada till 5 pm, officials said.

 

Of the four seats, Nawada has the highest number of 20.06 lakh voters, where altogether eight candidates are in the fray though the contest is primarily between Vivek Thakur, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP seeking entry into the Lok Sabha, and RJD's Shravan Kushwaha.

 

Gaya has 18.18 lakh voters, but the highest number of 14 candidates. Here, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, an NDA ally, who is just a few months shy of turning 80, is making yet another bid to enter Parliament.