Voting starts in Bihar for seven Lok Sabha, two Assembly seats

Polling for the third phase of Lok Sabha election for seven Bihar constituencies located in Seemanchal area bordering Nepal and Bangladesh began this morning.

A total 108 candidates are in the fray in Supual, Araria, Kisanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Banka and Bhagalpur with the prominent among them being BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, NCP General Secretary Tariq Anwar and RJD leader Mohammad Taslimuddin.

Over 1.04 crore voters will exercise their franchise in 9,840 polling stations spread across seven constituencies. Among those whose electoral fortunes will be decided today are BJP leader and Bhagalpur sitting BJP MP Shahnawaz Hussain and NCP leader Tariq Anwar. 

A total of 57,000 security personnel, belonging to 221 companies of security forces, including 147 of central armed forces like CRPF, ITBP, BSF, CISF and RPF would be on duty on the polling day, state Chief Secretary A K Sinha said.

In Banka and Katoria Assembly segments of Banka constituency, voting would be held till 4 pm due to Maoist threat in the area. Repoll is also being held the assembly segments of Baisi in Purnea and Kochadhaman in Kisanganj.