LS polls: Bihar sees 60% turnout in five seats in 3rd phase

A presiding officer at a polling booth in Supaul and a Home Guard jawan in Araria district passed away on Tuesday, allegedly due to a heart attack, amid polling in five of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, which recorded a provisional voter turnout of 60%, election officials said in Patna.

Polling took place in Jhanjharpur, Araria, Supaul, Madhepura and Khagaria on Tuesday in the third of the seven-phase parliamentary polls being held in the country.

The estimated turnout of 60% at 6 pm was 1.22% less as compared to 61.22% in 2019, but the highest in the three rounds of polls in the state so far.

The turnout in the first phase — Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui — was 49.26% and 59.45% in the third phase in Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur and Banka.

“Jhanjharpur recorded a provisional voter turnout of 55.50%, Supaul 62.40%, Araria 62.80%, Madhepura 61% and Khagaria 58.20%,” Bihar’s chief electoral officer HR Srinivasa said at a press conference on Tuesday evening.

“We expect the final voter turnout this year to surpass that of 2019, as the weather was good today and queues were still lined up in front of polling booths in a couple of districts when we collected the provisional voting figures from district magistrates at 6 pm,” Srinivasa said in response to a HT query on alleged voter disinterest in Bihar.

Voters boycotted polls over development issues at booth numbers 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 57 and 58 under Simri Bakhtiyarpur assembly segment of Khagaria parliamentary constituency and at booth numbers 182 and 183 under the Beldaur assembly segment of the same constituency, said Srinivasa.

Clashes between different groups in Simri Baktiyarpur assembly constituency led to damage of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). An FIR had been registered in this connection, said Srinivasa.

“The voters did not participate despite concerted efforts by senior officers who visited the villages to encourage them to vote,” he added.

The deceased presiding officer was identified as Shailendra Kumar, deputed at booth number 158 under the 41-Nirmali assembly segment of Supaul parliamentary constituency. The deceased Home Guard jawan, Mahendra Sah, was deputed at upgraded middle school at Pachaili village under Palasi block of Araria district. Their bodies were handed over to the family members after post-mortem examination.

“The Election Commission of India has initiated the process for payment of ex gratia to the next of kin of the deceased,” Srinivasa said.

“Over 40,000 security personnel and 19,666 Home Guards were deployed to ensure free and fair polls in the third phase in the state,” said Jitendra Gangwar, additional director general of police (headquarters).

He said this round of polls was challenging because of the 250-km stretch of international border with Nepal across districts of Madhepura, Supaul and Araria. Besides, polling booths were also located in far-flung diara (riverine) areas for which river patrolling and boats and tractors were requisitioned to ferry polling and security personnel, said Gangwar.

A total 38,972 preventive arrests were made and action taken against 760 people under the Crime Control Act. As many as 184 illegal weapons were recovered.

The Bihar police had seized ₹62.17 lakh cash and 1.31 lakh litres of illegal liquor besides 1734.6 kg of drugs and psychotropic substances between March 17 and May 6, Gangwar said.

Fate of 54 candidates, including 51 male and three women, were sealed in this phase of polls, which essentially saw a direct contest between the rookies of the Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance and experienced contestants of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The NDA, which had won on all the five seats in 2019, had reposed faith in its four MPs, three of the JD(U) — four-time MP Dinesh Chandra Yadav from Madhepura, Rampreet Mandal from Jhanjhanpur and Dileshwar Kamait from Supaul — and BJP’s Pradeep Kumar Singh from Araria to win a fresh term. It had, however, given ticket to Rajesh Verma, a first-timer from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) in Khagaria, as two-time MP Mehboob Ali Kaiser of the Lok Janshakti Party failed to find favour with the NDA, as he had sided with Pashupati Kumar Paras, a former Union minister, after the split of the LJP following Ram Vilas Paswan’s death. In the reworked political equations, the NDA gave the Khagaria seat to Chirag-led LJP (RV), which gave the ticket to Verma this time.

The GA, on its part, had given tickets to first-timers — three from the RJD, including Chandrahas Choupal, its MLA from the Singheshwar (SC) constituency, in Supaul, Shahnawaz Alam in Araria and Prof Kumar Chandradeep in Madhepura; Sanjay Kumar from the CPM in Khagaria and Suman Kumar Mahaseth from the Vikassheel Insaan Party in Jhanjhanpur.

The Supaul Lok Sabha constituency, which had long been considered a stronghold of socialist leaders, saw the RJD put up a candidate here for the first time after the 1998 Lok Sabha elections against MP and JD(U) leader Dileshwar Kamait.

A total of 98,60,397 voters of which 51,29,473 were male, 47,30,602 female and 322 third gender, were eligible to exercise their franchise in the third phase in the state.