Patna, April 19 (UNI) Polling in four out of 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar began on a peaceful note at 7 am amid tight security arrangements on Friday for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections.
A total of 76,01,629 electorate would be exercising their franchise to decide the fate of 38 candidates, including former Chief Minister Jeetan Ram Manjhi.
Polling is in progress in Aurangabad, Gaya (reserved), Jamui (reserved), and Nawada. Additional security arrangements have been made for 10 booths in naxal affected areas in Aurangabad, 16 in Gaya, 28 in Jamui and 1 in Nawada Lok Sabha seat.
Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm in all except for booths in naxal affected areas where it will be till 4 pm. There are 7,903 polling stations and 92,602 electorate would be exercising their franchise for the first time.
In all four seats, there is straight contest between NDA and INDIA bloc candidates. Former Bihar Chief Minister Jeetan Ram Manjhi of HAM, a constituent of NDA has locked horns with Kumar Sarvajeet of RJD, a constituent of INDIA bloc in Gaya Lok Sabha seat. Rajesh Kumar, father of Sarvajeet had defeated Manjhi in 1991 Lok Sabha elections. Sushma Kumari of BSP is also in the fray from this seat.
In Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat, BJP candidate Sushil Kumar Singh is sitting MP, who has been winning from this seat since 2009 Lok Sabha elections. RJD has fielded Abhay Kushwaha.
In Nawada Lok Sabha seat, BJP has fielded Vivek Thakur, son of former Union Minister Dr C P Thakur. RJD has made Shrawan Kushwaha its candidate.
Both Thakur and Kushwaha are contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the first time. Independent candidates Vinod Yadav and a popular Bhojpuri singer Gunjan Singh are also in the fray. Nawada seat was represented by Chandan Singh of LJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In Jamui, Chirag Paswan has fielded his brother-in-law, Arun Bharti, as candidate of LJP(RV), a constituent of NDA. Chirag himself had emerged victorious from this seat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. RJD has fielded Archana Das as its candidate. She is wife of a local RJD leader, Mukesh Yadav.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NDA had bagged all four seats while the Grand Alliance failed to open its account. Chandan Singh of LJP from Nawada, Chirag Paswan of LJP from Jamui, Sushil Kumar Singh of BJP from Aurangabad and Vijay Kumar of JD(U) from Gaya had emerged victorious.
A large number of voters arrived at polling booths and were seen waiting in queues for their turns to exercise their franchise. Women were also seen waiting in long queues to cast their votes. When asked, most of them said that they were voting on the issue of development, employments and welfare schemes for them.To ensure free and fair polling, 153 companies of para -military forces have been deployed in four constituencies in first phase of Lok Sabha elections.
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