Bihar saw 25.87% polling till 1 pm in the second phase of elections on Tuesday, said the Election Commission’s voter turnout app.
The second phase of polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm. Polling was opened up for an extra hour to accommodate Covid-19 patients and those who show symptoms.
Prominent politicians including governor Phagu Chauhan, chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, Mahagathbandhans chief minister face Tejashwi Yadav, and LJP chief Chirag Paswan cast their votes in their respective polling booths.
While Kumar did not speak to the media waiting outside the polling station, Tejashwi said after casting the ballot that people are “angry” with the government and they will vote for education, health, irrigation and law and order.
Rabri Devi said Bihar needed change.
Paswan had said earlier in the day that he was confident that a BJP-LJP alliance will come to power and Nitish Kumar will never become chief minister again.
Polling, however, will conclude early in Naxal-hit areas.
The Election Commission said voting will end at 4 pm in eight seats of Gaura Bauram and Kusheshwar Asthan in Darbhanga district, Minapur, Paroo and Sahebganj in Muzaffarpur, Alauli and Beldour in Khagaria, and Raghopur in Vaishali.
Bihar had seen a 53.46% voter turnout in the first phase of polling last week.
In the second phase, 94 assembly seats — more than a third of the 243-strong assembly spread across 17 districts — have gone to polls on Tuesday.
All the four assembly segments in the capital city Patna Sahib, Kumhrar, Bankipur and Digha are also going to polls. All these are held by the BJP.
The RJD is contesting 56 of the 94 seats in this phase while its ally Congress is contesting 24. The CPI and CPI(M), which joined the Grand Alliance recently, are fighting four seats each. Quite a few seats are being contested by the CPI(ML), the Left outfit with the strongest presence in Bihar.
(With PTI inputs)