Bihar: 39.36 pc voter turnout till 1 pm in Rupauli assembly bypoll

Patna, Jul 10 (PTI) A voter turnout of 39.36 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the bypoll to Rupauli Assembly seat in Bihar on Wednesday, an official said.

Polling, which started at 7 am, will continue until 6 pm.

Over three lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to determine the fate of 11 candidates.

The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who won the seat for JD(U) several times in the past, but quit the party to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a RJD ticket. Following her loss in the parliamentary election, she contested in the bypoll as an RJD candidate.

The JD(U) has fielded Kaladhar Prasad Mandal, who had contested the 2020 assembly polls from the seat as an independent.

Former MLA Shankar Singh, who had quit the LJP (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, is also in the fray as an independent. PTI CORR PKD MNB