Bihar elections: 26.9% voter turnout recorded till 12 noon

Vaishali district recorded a maximum turnout of 30.53%, while Bhojpur recorded the lowest turnout of 27.06%

About 27% voter turnout was recorded till 12 noon in 50 Assembly constituencies spread over six districts of Bihar in the third phase of polling today.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who cast his vote at polling booth number 204 at Bakhtiyarpur, faced protest from a section of people agitating over death of a girl allegdly due to lack of proper medical facility at Bakhtiyarpur bazar.

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Other prominent personalities who voted today include Governor Ram Nath Kovind and his wife Savita Kovind, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejaswi Yadav and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

Prasad and Rabri Devi cast their vote at polling station number 150 of Digha assembly constituency of Patna.

Union minister Ravishankar Prasad arrived at the polling booth riding an e-rickshaw with his mother. Minister of State Ramkripal Yadav rode a motorcycle to a booth at Jamal road in Patna to cast his vote.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer R Lakshamanan said around 26.94% turnout has been reported from 50 Assembly constituencies in the third phase till 12 noon. Polling is underway in six districts of Saran, Vaishali, Nalanda, Patna, Bhojpur and Buxar in this phase.

Meanwhile, in a freak incident a monkey injured four voters, including two women who were standing in a queue in front of the polling where Nitish Kumar had earlier cast his vote.

The incident took place at Project Girls School, Station House Officer of Bhakhtiyarpur police station Vinay Krishna said.

The booth falls under Bakhtiyarpur Assembly constituency. A team of forest department arrived from Patna and were trying to catch the monkey.

As per hourly EC bulletin till 12 noon, Saran recorded 28.45% turnout, Vaishali 30.53%, Nalanda 27.39%, Patna 23.03%, Bhojpur 27.06% and Buxar 30.05%.

While Vaishali district recorded a maximum turnout of 30.53%, Bhojpur recorded the lowest turnout of 27.06% till 12 noon.

There were reports of EVM malfunctioning at a few places in the Assembly constituencies of Digha, Masaurhi, Mahnar, Buxar where polling began nearly an hour later.

Polling will end at 4 p.m in 10 constituencies due to security reasons and at 5 p.m in the rest 40 constituencies.

Voting on 81 seats has already completed in the first two phases on October 12 and October 16.

Two more rounds of polling would be held on November 1 and November 5 for the rest of the 112 seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. Results would be declared on November 8.