44.28 per cent polling till 3 pm in 5 LS seats of Bihar

A estimated 44.28 per cent of over 87.66 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm in five Lok Sabha constituencies during the fifth phase of polling in Bihar on Monday.

A total of 87,66,722 voters would decide the fate of 82 candidates.

Polling is currently underway peacefully in five Lok Sabha constituencies of Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur with few incidents of EVM malfunctioning and poll boycott reported from a couple of places.

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar said 44.28 per cent votes were polled in the five constituencies together till 3 pm.

Saran recorded the highest voting percentage of 46 per cent, followed by 44.71 per cent in Muzaffarpur, 44.60 per cent in Sitamarhi, 43.60 in Hajipur and 42.65 per cent in Madhubani.

"Polling has been peaceful with no untoward incidents reported from any of these constituencies so far," officials said.

The voting process, which began at 7 am, will come to an end at 6 pm across all 8,899 polling stations in all the five constituencies.

A total of 65,000 polling personnel have been deployed for conducting the elections.

Webcasting is being done from 400 polling stations.

Earlier in the day, some people decided to boycott the polls over issues related to lack of development work.

Residents of Dumri village in Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency stayed away from voting claiming lack of development, officials said.

The polling process was also hampered in various polling stations due to EVM malfunctioning.

The polling process was delayed at six polling stations in Saran due to malfunctioning of EVMs, officials said, adding, malfunctioning of EVMs were also reported from Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur constituencies.

Polling, in each of these constituencies, began after an hour of delay.

People of all age groups, were seen standing in long queues outside various polling stations.

Former union minister, senior BJP leader and sitting MP of Saram, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, exercised his franchise in Saran.

His rival Chandrika Rai, Tej Pratap Yadav's father- in-law also cast his vote there.

Former union minister Shakeel Ahmad, who was suspended on Sunday by the party for contesting from Madhubani seat as an independent candidate, cast his vote in Madhubani.