53.55 per cent polling in eight LS seats of Bihar

An estimated 53.55 per cent of over 1.52 crore voters exercised their franchise on Sunday in eight Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar, amid incidents of police opening fire and calls of the poll boycott. Polling was held at 15,811 booths in the eight seats - Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Jehanabad, Sasaram (SC) and Karakat.

"The turnout was 2.06 per cent higher compared to 2014 when these eight constituencies had together polled 51.49 per cent," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Bihar H R Srinivasa told reporters here. Private security guards of RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav beat up a couple of photojournalists in the city after one of them allegedly smashed the windscreen of the former Bihar minister's vehicle, enraged over the car crushing the toes of a fellow lensman.

The incident took place at the Veterinary College here, where a polling station had been set up and the maverick leader had arrived to cast his vote for the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency. The Election Commission has sought a report from the district magistrate on the incident.

Tej Pratap has filed an FIR in this regard but the journalist has not lodged an FIR so far, the CEO said. Of the eight Lok Sabha constituencies, Sasaram recorded the highest turnout at 57.74 per cent, followed by Pataliputra at 57.26 per cent, Buxar at 55.60 per cent, Karakat at 55 per cent, Nalanda at 54.40 per cent, Jehanabad at 54 per cent and Arrah at 52.60 per cent, an Election Commission official said.

Patna Sahib, the high-profile seat with 21,42,842 voters in the state, recorded the lowest turnout at 43.54 per cent. Altogether 157 candidates, including four Union ministers, were in the fray in the seventh phase of the parliamentary polls.

Voting was also held for bypoll to Dehri Assembly seat, which fell vacant last year upon the disqualification of RJD MLA and former state minister Mohd Ilyas Husain - convicted in the bitumen scam by a Ranchi court. A voter turnout of 56 per cent was recorded in the Dehri bypoll, he said.

People boycotted voting at a polling station of Chhara village under Pataliputra constituency, at Nevaldi Bigaha village in Nalanda constituency besides another polling station at Sathuna village in Buxar constituency. The police fired in the air to disperse a mob to prevent bogus voting at two polling stations in Dariyapur village under Atri assembly segment of Jehanabad constituency, Additional Director General of Police (ADG) (Headquarters) Kundan Krishnan said.

Around 200 people had gathered there to carry out bogus voting, the ADG said. The police also fired in the open to disperse the crowd at two polling stations under Dulhin bazaar police station of Pataliputra constituency, he said.

When the police tried to thwart bogus voting, the people resorted to stone pelting prompting the police to fire in the air. The police also dispersed a mob at a polling station in Narayanpur village of Jehanabad constituency after some people belonging to weaker sections were being deterred from voting.

A total of 77 persons were arrested as a preventive measure on Sunday, Srinivasa said. Prominent candidates whose electoral fate were sealed in Sunday's polling include Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, his Congress rival Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Sahib), Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, his RJD rival Misa Bharti (Pataliputra), Central ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Buxar) and R K Singh (Ara), and former Lok Sabha speaker and senior Congress leader Meira Kumar (Sasaram).

Kumar, after casting his vote at a polling station near Raj Bhawan, told reporters that summer months were not appropriate for holding the elections. Conjoined twins Sabah and Farah (23), who earned their right to be treated as two different individuals, cast their votes separately for the first time.

"We are very happy that we have been given separate voting rights. We have voted for development," Sabah said.