Seventh round of voting in Bihar concluded peacefully with 50.56% voter turnout
Barring some incidents of violence at a few polling stations, voting in eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar — Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Nalanda, Ara, Karakat, Buxar, Sasaram and Jehanabad — was conducted peacefully on Saturday with an estimated 50.56 percent voters exercising their franchise. Voting in four Lok Sabha polling stations — Nalanda, Patliputra and Jehanabad — was boycotted due to local issues.
Voter turnout was about 0.68 percentage points lower this time compared to 2019 (51.24%), but Bihar’s Chief Election Officer HR Srinivasa said the final figure was likely to go up as voter data was still being collated.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADG) JS Gangwar said several cases of clashes between supporters of different candidates were reported in Bhojpur, Kaimur and Jehanabad. “Teams of police officials have intervened to quell the situation and arrested the troublemakers. We are keeping vigil in the areas,” Gangwar said.
A total of 134 candidates, including 12 women, contested and voting took place at 16,634 polling stations. There were a total of 1.62 lakh voters in the eight constituencies, of which 8.501 lakh were male, 7.707 lakh were female and 415 were of the third gender. A total of 73,348 Police personnel and 20,780 Home Guards were deployed to ensure free and fair voting.
