Over 11% voting in Bihar LS polls (10 a.m.)

Bihar recorded 11.88 per cent voting till 10 a.m. on Monday in five Lok Sabha seats in the state, an official said.

Voting started at 7 a.m. in the Begusarai, Ujiarpur, Darbhanga, Munger and Samastipur constituencies.

"In the initial hours of polling, women in particular were seen in large numbers in queues outside polling booths," the official said.

More than 87 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 67 candidates.

Heavy contingents of security personnel have been deployed at all polling booths and three helicopters were requisitioned to provide air cover.

Prominent candidates include Union Minister Giriraj Singh, who is being challenged by JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar on a Communist Party of India ticket in Begusarai.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded state chief Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur, where Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief and former Minister Upendra Kushwaha is also in the fray.

In Munger, the Janata Dal-United has fielded Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's close aide Lalan Singh against Congress' Neelam Devi, wife of Independent MLA Anant Singh.

In Darbhanga, senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui is in the fray.

This phase of polling will also decide the fate of Lok Janshakti Party leader Ramchandra Paswan in Samastipur.

--IANS

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