Bihar elections: 51.8% voting till 3 PM in final phase

51.83% votes were cast till 3 PM in 57 constituencies spread over nine districts in the fifth and final phase of Bihar polls today.

As per an EC bulletin, Madhubani recorded 48.20% voting, Supual 52.53%, Araria 54.26 pc, Kisanganj 52.44 pc, Purnea 53.96 pc, Katihar 57.02 pc, Madhepura 51.87 pc, Saharsa 45.69 pc and Darbhanga 51.57 pc.

Katihar district recorded maximum turnout of 57.02%, while Saharsa recorded the lowest turnout of 45.69% till 3 PM.

While polling came to an end at 3 PM on two seats of Simri Bhaktiyarpur and Mahishi in Saharsa district, the voting would end at its scheduled time of 5 PM in the remaining 55 seats, EC officiaks said.

Voting was hampered for a while at polling station number 65 of Jokihat constituency in Araria district following a scuffle with the police which resorted to firing two rounds in the air to disperse a mob trying to obstruct the poll process.

District Magistrate Subhash Sharma said police fired in the air to disperse the mob which violated the section 144 CrPC and assembled unlawfully to obstruct polling, which has resumed.

A CRPF jawan Ranglal Meena died after a heart attack while on duty at polling station number 49 of Jhanjharpur constituency of Madhubani district, its public relations officer Jaishankar Prasad said.

Bindeshwar Sah, a polling officer at a polling station number 34 at Hawi Bauwar village under Benipur constituency in Darbhanga district died in hospital after a heart attack while voting was on, District Magistrate Kumar Ravi said.

In the last phase of polling, a total of 1,55,43,594 voters will decide the fate of 827 candidates that includes prominent leaders like senior ministers Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Supual), Narendra Narayan Yadav (Alamnagar), RJDLP leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Alinagar), Lalu Prasad's 'Man Friday' Bhola Yadav (Bahadurpur), and BJP candidate Nitish Mishra (Jhanjharpur).

A total of 1033 companies of state police personnel and central para military forces besides 74469 polling personnel have been deployed at all the 14709 polling stations to ensure free and fair election.