Bihar: 6 mln voters to decide fate of 44 candidates in 1st phase polling

Elaborate security measures are in place in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar Gaya, Jamui, Nawada and Aurangabad - where nearly six million voters would decide the fate of 44 candidates in the first leg of the seven-phased general elections on Thursday. According to Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kumar Singh, central paramilitary forces, Bihar Military Police and Special Armed Police will be deployed outside a total of 7,486 polling stations across these parliamentary constituencies all of which are naxal-infested.

Arrangements have been made for live webcast of polling at 350 polling booths besides helicopters and air ambulances will be pressed into service to deal with any exigency, Singh said. He also said foldable wheelchairs will be made available at the booths to differently-abled or 'Divyang' voters and vehicles for ferrying them to and from the polling stations may also be provided where required.

A total number of 45,000 poll personnel have been deployed to conduct the election process, he added. Prominent among those who are the fray in these constituencies are LJP MP from Jamui Chirag Paswan who is locked in a straight contest with his predecessor RLSPs Bhudeo Chaudhary. Chaudhary, who was earlier with the JD(U), had won the seat in 2009 as an NDA candidate.

Altogether nine candidates, including a woman Vishnu Priya of little-known outfit Bahujan Mukti Party, are in the fray for the reserved seat where their fates will be decided by 17.09 lakh electors. In Gaya, another reserved constituency, former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) president Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is a several term MLA, would make yet another attempt to enter the parliament. Altogether 13 candidates, all of them males, are in the fray there though the contest is being seen primarily between Manjhi and JD(U)s Vijay Kumar whose mother Bhagwati Devi, a daily wage earner, had made history in the 1990s by getting elected to the Lok Sabha. The total number of voters in Gaya is 16.99 lakhs.

In Nawada, where 11 men and two women are in the fray, the fight is being seen mainly between two greenhorns, the wife of a former MLA who got disqualified upon conviction in a rape case and the brother of a mafia don-turned-politician. RJDs Vibha Devi married to Raj Ballabh Yadav and LJPs Chandan Kumar whose brother Suraj Bhan Singh used to be a dreaded gangster in the 1990s before entering politics, are making their debut from the seat which is currently held by Union minister Giriraj Singh, who has moved to Begusarai.

The constituency has 18.92 lakh voters. In Aurangabad, second term MP Sunil Kumar Singh looks forward to retaining the seat for the BJP with the primary challenge coming from HAMs Upendra Prasad. There has been considerable unrest within the state Congress over former MP Nikhil Kumar, whose late father and wife too have represented the seat many times, not being given the ticket from the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan'. A total of nine candidates, all of them males, are in the fray from the seat where the number of voters is 7.37 lakhs.

(With inputs from agencies.)