57% Voter Turnout in First Phase of Bihar Polls, voting peaceful

www.mangaloretoday.com

Patna, Oct 12, 2015: The first phase of the Bihar assembly elections today saw a voter turnout of 57 per cent. Polling was held for 49 of 243 constituencies on the state, where the BJP hopes to deprive Nitish Kumar of a straight third term as Chief Minister.

Barring stray incidents of violence including the shooting of a LJP candidate who escaped unhurt, the mammoth exercise that began at 7 a.m. was largely peaceful across 49 seats in 10 districts, officials said.

Most of the constituencies that vote in the opening round are JD(U) strongholds — it won 29 seats here in alliance with the BJP in 2010.

The JD(U) is contesting 24 seats in the first phase under the new alignment and will be keen to know if the party, steered by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has been able to attract key segments, including EBCs, Mahadalits and, most importantly, the Yadavs — an early indication of whether its tie-up with Lalu Prasad’s RJD has worked at the ground level.

The RJD, which has fielded 17 candidates here, won only four seats here last time but gained ground by winning two of the eight Lok Sabha segments, wresting Banka and Bhagalpur from BJP in 2014.

On the other side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led the NDA charge by addressing a string of rallies leading to the first phase in which the BJP has fielded 27 candidates — it won 13 seats in this segment in 2010 — followed by Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP with 13.