By Vishwapati
Patna: The voting process for four Lok Sabha seats in Bihar came to an end on Friday in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. In the first phase of voting, voting started at 7 am in Aurangabad, Gaya (reserved), Nawada and Jamui (reserved) parliamentary seats. Despite the scorching heat and heat wave, a large number of voters stood in line and ensured their participation in this great festival of democracy. In Naxal affected areas, voting was allowed only until 4 pm. Whereas voting continued until 6 pm at other general booths. Till 6pm, 48 percent turnout was recorded in Bihar.
According to the data released by the State Election Commission, till 6 pm, a total of 48% of the votes were cast in four seats in Bihar. In Aurangabad, 49.95% voting was recorded till 5 pm, in Gaya 48.54% voting was recorded till 5 pm, in Nawada, 40.02% polling was registered till 5 pm and in Jamui, 47.09% of voting was recorded till 5 pm. Till 5 pm, a total of 46.32 percent voting has been recorded in these four seats of Bihar.
Long queues were seen at polling stations in Jamui, Gaya, Aurangabad and Nawada. About 6000 booths on these seats were included in the category of sensitive booths. Extensive security arrangements have been made here. A total of 38 candidates are in the fray for four Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. In Jamui, there is a direct contest between Chirag Paswan’s brother-in-law, Arun Bharti of LJP (Ram Vilas), and Archana Ravidas of RJD.
In Gaya, the main fight is between Jitan Ram Manjhi of NDA and Kumar Sarvjeet of the RJD. In Nawada, the BJP’s Vivek Thakur and the RJD’s Shravan Kushwaha are face-to-face. There is a direct contest i Aurangabad between the BJP’s Sushil Singh and the RJD’s Abhay Kushwaha. Many independent candidates are also contesting all four seats.
The author is a senior journalist based in Patna
