Bihar Elections: Second phase sees 55% voter turnout

Women continue to outnumber men in casting their votes

Six districts affected by Left-wing extremism recorded a voter turnout of 55 per cent across the 32 seats that went to polls in the second phase of Bihar assembly elections on Friday.

The Election Commission (EC) said voting was largely peaceful, with people defying calls by extremists to boycott the polls across the six districts of Gaya, Aurangabad, Arwal, Jehanabad, Rohtas, and Kaimur.

The turnout was a bit better than the 52 per cent recorded in the 2010 elections.

As in the first phase, in the second phase, too, women outnumbered men in casting their votes. EC officials said the turnout of women voters was 57.5 per cent, while that of men was 52.5 per cent.

People boycotted polls in 13 of the 9,119 polling stations. "In most of the cases, people wanted better roads, electricity, hospitals, and schools. In one incident, people wanted a new police station near their homes. Our officials tried to calm them, but they didn't listen to us," said chief electoral officer Ajay Nayak.

He said two bombs (improvised explosive devices) were found on Friday in Gaya and defused by a paramilitary bomb squad.

Among the key contestants in this round are former chief minister and Hindustani Awami Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi locking horns with outgoing assembly speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary of the Janata Dal (United) in Gaya's Imamganj constituency. Manjhi is also contesting from the Makhdumpur seat in the Jehanabad district. On the other hand, one of the chief ministerial aspirants of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajendra Singh, is contesting from the Dinara constituency in Sasaram.

A total of 456 candidates, including 32 women, are in the fray in this phase.