Lok Sabha Election 2019: At 61%, much-talked Begusarai seat registers highest voting

The scorching sun and heat-wave like conditions notwithstanding, around 58% voters in Bihar exercised their franchise at the five constituencies, which went to polls in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election on Monday.

With this, voting concluded on 19 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, which is stretched for a seven-phased poll.

The five constituencies - Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai, Munger - witnessed an average 58.92% polling, an increase of over 2% from 2014 when 56.18% voting was recorded in these constituencies. Election officials said the figures were likely to increase after the final tabulation.

All five constituencies, which went to polls on Monday are held by the NDA MPs, making it a prestige issue for the saffron alliance to retain these seats. Long queues were seen at polling booths from early morning and women too, were seen in large numbers, at the polling stations.

The Begusarai constituency, which is arguably the most talked about seat in Bihar, recorded maximum turnout of 61.27%. The fate of BJP leader Giriraj Singh, Left candidate Kanhaiya Kumar and Mahagathbandhan nominee Tanweer Hasan (RJD) were sealed by the Begusarai voters on Monday.

The Samastipur (SC) and Ujiarpur constituencies registered just over 60% voting. While LJP MP Ram Chandra Paswan hopes to defend Samastipur from local MLA Dr Ashok Kumar (Congress), Ujiarpur witnesses a direct contest between BJP Bihar president and MP Nityanand Rai and RLSP president and ex-Union minister Upendra Kushwaha. In Darbhanga, where 56.68% turnout was recorded, two fresh candidates - RJD's Abdul Bari Siddiqui and BJP's Gopaljee Thakur.

Least turnout was recorded in Munger seat, where Bihar minister Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh (JD-U) is up against Neelam Devi, wife of Bahubali leader Anant Singh on a Congress ticket.

A total of 66 candidates, including three female, were in the fray from the five seats which has around 88 lakh voters. "The polling was peaceful overall, except some minor clashes for which proper action was initiated Around 133 complaints were received, majority of which were successfully resolved," said an election official.