Bihar: 26 pct voter turnout so far, one held for damaging EVM in Saran

An estimated 26.19 per cent of over 87.66 lakh electorate exercised their franchise till noon in five Lok Sabha seats of Bihar on Monday, during the fifth phase of the seven-phase polls, an election official said. Polling is underway in Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur parliamentary seats amid tight security, with no violence reported from any part of the state, he said.

According to a senior police officer, one person has been taken into custody in Saran for damaging an EVM. "Gopal Paswan was arrested for destroying a voting machine at polling station number 131 in Saran constituency.

The damaged EVM has been replaced with a fresh one. We are questioning Paswan as of now to understand his motive," Superintendent of Police Har Kishore Rai said. Of the five Lok Sabha seats, Saran recorded the highest turnout so far at 29 per cent, followed by Muzaffarpur at 26.28 per cent and Madhubani at 25.85 per cent.

Both Sitamarhi and Hajipur constituencies registered 25 per cent voting each till noon. Barring a few reports of poll boycott and EVM glitches, voting has largely been peaceful in the five seats, Chief Electoral Officer H R Srinivasa said.

"The voting process was delayed by around 30 minutes in six polling stations of Saran, two in Madhubani, one each in Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur constituencies due to technical glitches in the EVMs, but the officials have attended to the issues," he stated. In Dumri village of Muzaffarpur parliamentary seat, a group of people boycotted the polls, citing lack of development in the region.

"The poll officials in Muzaffarpur also noted posters with BJP's slogan 'Abki Baar Modi Sarkar' pasted on the walls, barely 50 metres from the booths at a primary school in Gobarsahi," he said. Senior Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar said an FIR has been lodged in the case against unidentified persons for violating the model code of conduct.

Elaborate security measures have been made for the five Lok Sabha seats, where women and first-time voters were seen queuing up outside booths even before the commencement of the process at 7 am, the election official said. The poll panel has appointed 65,000 polling personnel and 4,349 micro observers to carry out free and fair voting in 8,899 booths across the five seats, he said.

Arrangements have also been made for helicopters and air ambulances at select places to meet exigencies, he added. A 105-year-old man was seen braving the heat to exercise her franchise in Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Girija Nandan Sharma, who arrived in a wheelchair, said he was happy with the arrangements made at the polling station in Jaarang village of the constituency. Another woman, Namrata, flew to Bihar from Canada to cast her vote in Muzaffarpur.

Namrata said she had come to Bihar just to exercise her franchise and would leave for Canada on Tuesday. Altogether, 82 candidates are in the fray in the fifth phase of Bihar polls, prominent among them being former union minister and sitting MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, his rival and RJD candidate Chandrika Rai, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan's brother and Bihar minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and former Bihar minister Sunil Kumar Pintu. Both Rudy and Rai cast their votes early in the day at Saran Lok Sabha constituency.

(With inputs from agencies.)