Second phase of voting in Bihar tomorrow; big battles in Patliputra, Patna Sahib

A total of 11,85,07,86 electors would exercise their franchise in 11,846 polling stations in Patna Sahib, Nalanda, Patliputra, Jehanabad, Munger, Ara and Buxar Parliamentary Constituencies in Bihar in the second phase of General Elections on April 17.

Zee Media Bureau/Ritesh K Srivastava

Patna: A total of 11,85,07,86 electors would exercise their franchise in 11,846 polling stations in Patna Sahib, Nalanda, Patliputra, Jehanabad, Munger, Ara and Buxar Parliamentary Constituencies in Bihar in the second phase of General Elections on April 17.

Campaigning for the seven Lok Sabha constituencies ended on Tuesday evening and massive security arrangements have been put in place to avoid any untoward incident as many of the constituencies fall in Maoist-hit areas.

Voting in Patna and nearby districts would decide the fate of 117 candidates, including actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, former Home Secretary RK Singh, Lalu Prasad`s eldest daughter Misa Bharti and her two “uncles” Ramkripal Yadav and Ranjan Yadav.

Keeping up the BJP momentum, its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had addressed rallies at Jehanabad, Ara and Bikram in Patliputra seats on April 10.

BJP veteran LK Advani made his maiden poll campaign in Bihar by addressing rallies at Banka and Katihar on April 14.

Cinestar-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, seeking re-election from Patna Sahib on BJP ticket, mainly campaigned for himself conducting a large number of rallies and road shows.

His Congress rival and Bhojpuri actor Kunal Singh too worked hard to give him a challenge on the seat in the state capital.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Ramvilas Paswan and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi criss-crossed constituencies to garner support for their parties.

Chief Secretary AK Sinha told reporters that a total of 42,600 security personnel would be deployed for smooth conduct of the polls. As in the first phase of polls in six seats in Naxal-hit areas on April 10, two helicopters would be in service in the second phase of voting also.

Accompanied by Director General of Police Abhyanand, Sinha said 152 companies of central forces and 74 Bihar Military police would be on duty on April 17 polling. As per Election Commission decision, voting in seven Maoist-hit Assembly constituencies would end at 4 pm while in the rest it would be conducted till 6 pm.
The seven Assembly constituencies that would witness curtailed voting time are in Naxal-affected Munger, Lakhisarai, Jehanabad and in rural Patna comprising areas in Patliputra Parliamentary constituency.

A total of 50.36 percent votes were cast in six parliamentary constituencies in Bihar on April 11.

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