Bihar’s second phase of Assembly polls on Sunday remained peaceful barring a few minor incidents of firing and unrest.
A band of criminals fired three rounds of bullets at Mangraha village in Muzaffarpur’s Baruraj to intimidate voters. Former minister and JD(U) candidate Dinesh Prasad Kushwaha’s car was pelted with stones as he visited a polling booth in Minapur in Muzaffarpur. The bodyguard of Madhuban JD(U) candidate Shivji Rao was arrested for allegedly intimidating voters.
Nearly 140 people were arrested on charge of trying to create turmoil during the polling process in six districts open for 98.44 lakh registered voters, including 45.64 lakh women, to exercise their franchise.
Polling continued between 7 am and 5 pm in 40 seats and between 7 am and 3 pm in the remaining five — Sheohar, Belsand, Sahebganj, Minapur and Paru. Till 12 pm, the 45 constituencies had registered an average 25.23 per cent voting, which increased to 31 per cent by 1 pm and to 41.46 per cent by 2 pm, said EC sources. Live webcasting of 250 selected polling booths was conducted and monitored at the EC’s Patna control room.
Prominent politicians in the fray in the second phase included RJD’s Bihar unit chief Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Alinagar), his JD(U) counterpart Vijay Kumar Choudhary (Sarairanjan), ministers Ramnath Thakur (Samastipur), Dinesh Prasad Kushwaha (Minapur) and Shahid Ali Khan (Sursand). Others included LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s brother Ramchandra Paswan and former Union minister M.A.A Fatmi’s son Fraz Fatmi. Kanti in Muzaffarpur district was the constituency with the largest, 24, candidates in the fray while Rosera had the lowest number of candidates — six.