Patna, June 1 (UNI) Polling began on a peaceful note for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections in eight seats of Bihar at 7 am on Saturday, where more than 1.62 crore electorate are set to exercise their franchise amid tight security arrangements to decide the fate of 134 candidates.
Star candidates whose fates would be sealed in EVMs are Union Minister R K Singh, former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Upendra Kushwaha.
Lok Sabha seats where polling is in progress are Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat and Jehanabad. Polling will continue till 6 pm.
Sources at the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar, said that polling was in progress peacefully amid tight security arrangements for seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections in eight seats. No untoward incident had been reported from anywhere during the polling, sources added.
A large number of voters had arrived at the booth before the start of polling. Women and first time voters were seen much enthusiastic to exercise their franchise. They were waiting for their turns in long queues to cast their votes.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, of these seats, BJP had won five seats while its ally JD(U) had bagged three seats.
INDIA bloc comprising RJD and Congress as major partners, had then contested as Grand Alliance and drawn blank.
In all eight seats, there is a direct contest between NDA and INDIA bloc candidates, barring Jehanabad and Karakat, where the electoral battle has turned triangular. The BJP has fielded its candidates in all seats where the party won in the last Lok Sabha elections, which included Sasaram, Patliputra, Arrah, Buxar, and Patna Sahib while the JD (U) fielded its candidates in Jehanabad and Nalanda seat. RLM, another constituent of NDA has fielded its candidate in Karakat Lok Sabha seat.
On the other hand, Grand Alliance constituents RJD and CPI(ML) are contesting in three seats each while Congress has fielded its candidates in two seats only. RJD has fielded its candidates in Patliputra, Buxar and Jehanabad while CPI(ML) candidates are trying their luck in Arrah, Karakat and Nalanda. Congress has fielded its candidates in Patna Sahib and Sasaram seats only.
A total of 1,62,04,594 electorate members, including 85,01,620 males and 77,02,559 females, are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 134 candidates in eight seats during 7th and final phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Maximum 29 candidates are contesting from Nalanda seat while minimum 10 candidates are contesting from Sasaram seat.
Out of a total of 634 booths, all women managed booths are 146 and model booths are 117. Arrangements for webcasting have been made at 7,878 booths.
Polling for six of seven phased Lok Sabha elections in Bihar was earlier held in 32 seats. The counting of votes would be taken up on June 4.
