Bihar: 50.56 pc voter turnout recorded in 8 Lok Sabha seats

Patna, Jun 1 (PTI) Lok Sabha polls to eight constituencies of Bihar were largely peaceful in the seventh and final phase on Saturday, with a provisional voter turnout of 50.56 per cent, officials said.

Voting was held in Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Arrah, Karakat, Jehanabad, Buxar, Nalanda and Jehanabad from 7 am to 6 pm.

Altogether 1.62 crore voters were eligible to exercise their franchise across 16,634 polling stations in these eight Lok Sabha seats, where 134 candidates are in the fray.

The Agiaon assembly segment, under the Arrah Lok Sabha seat, where by-election was held simultaneously, recorded a turnout of 46 per cent. The bypoll was necessitated due to the disqualification of CPI (ML) Liberation MLA Manoj Manzil following his conviction in a murder case.

A few stray incidents of clashes among supporters of different political parties were reported in Bhojpur, Kaimur and Jehanabad, but those did not impact the polling process, the officials said.

A total of 85 people were either arrested or detained in connection with the clashes, an officer of Bihar Police said.

Patliputra recorded a voter turnout of 56.91 per cent, Buxar (53.70), Karakat (53.44), Jehanabad (51.20), Sasaram (51), Arrah (48.50), Nalanda (46.50) and Patna Sahib (45) till 6 pm on Saturday.

"The turnout percentage will increase as voting is still going on at certain booths in the eight Lok Sabha seats. In the last polls, these parliamentary constituencies had recorded a turnout of 51.24 per cent,” said H R Srinivasa, Chief Electoral Officer.

"Officials engaged in polling duty also received 168 complaints that were immediately resolved,” he said.

Srinivasa also said keeping the prevailing heatwave conditions in mind, district authorities had been instructed to make necessary arrangements during the polls.

Giving details about the fatalities of polling officials across the seven phases in Bihar, the CEO, said: “A total of 44 officials on poll duty died during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state.” Additional Director General (ADG) of Bihar Police (Headquarters), J S Gangwar, told reporters that security forces recovered Rs 3.41 crore in cash and liquor worth Rs 15.52 crore in the eight Lok Sabha seats on Saturday. Sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in Bihar since April 2016. PTI CORR PKD RBT