Patna, July 10: Polling to elect representatives to 24 seats in the Bihar Legislative Council from local body constituencies began this morning amidst tight security. Nearly 1.37 lakh voters will exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 101 candidates.

All 537 booths have been declared sensitive and contingents of armed police deployed at all polling stations for a free and fair election which is being held after a gap of 24 years, they said. There was no report of any untoward incident from anywhere, State Election Commission sources said here.

The former director-general of police R R Prasad is being challenged for the Bhojpur-Buxar seat by 40 candidates, including notorious criminal Vishewar Ojha on whose head a reward of Rs 20,000 was announced during his tenure.

The Chief Minister Rabri Devi`s brother, Prabhunath Yadav, is trying his luck from Gopalganj while the former Bihar minister Dilip Singh is in the fray from Patna.

In view of a large number of candidates with criminal background contesting the poll, the police has made tight security arrangements. Bureau Report