Around 63% of electorate exercised their suffrage in the five constituencies of Bihar, which went to polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election Thursday. It is a marginal increase of about 1% compared to 2014, when 61.93% turnout was recorded here.
While Katihar witnessed the maximum turnout among the five constituencies, where 68.2% people reached the booths, it was followed by Purnia and Kishanganj constituencies at 64.5% and 64.1% respectively. Bhagalpur and Banka constituencies saw least turnout with only 58.2% and 58% voting. Barring some minor clashes, voting was largely peaceful, election officials said.
The second phase of polls in Bihar was a direct contest between the Mahagathbandhan and the JD(U). In 2014, the NDA (which did not include the JD(U) then), had lost all five seats. While Bhagalpur and Banka had RJD MPs, Katihar was bagged by NCP's Tarique Anwar, who has now joined the Congress and Kishanganj was won by late Congress MP Mohammad Asarul Haque. The JD(U)'s Santosh Kumar Kushwaha had won Purnia.
This time, on behalf of the NDA, the JD(U) has fielded candidates on all five seats, hence it has become a contest between Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's party and the Grand Alliance (GA). The onus is on the GA to save its seats, especially taking into account that at least three seats -- Kishanganj, Purnea and Katihar -- are minority-dominated.
In Bhagalpur, RJD's Bulo Mandal is seeking a re-election against JD(U)'s Ajay Mandal. The fight here became interesting after the BJP denied a ticket to two-time MP Shahnawaz Hussain as the seat went to JD(U)'s kitty.
In Purnia, JD(U)'s Santosh Kushwaha fights Congress candidate Uday Singh alias Pappu to retain his seat. Katihar is likely to witness a direct contest between Tarique Anwar and JD(U)'s Dulal Chand Goswami, an MLA.
The contests in Kishanganj and Banka are triangular. In Kishanganj, the battle is among Congress' Kishanganj MLA Javed Azad, JD(U)'s Mahmood Ashraf and AIMIM's Akhtarul Iman.
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