Bihar: Voting begins for 5 LS seats amid tight security

Voting for five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar began amid tight security arrangements on Monday, a senior election official said.

Polling commenced at 7 am in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Saran and Hajipur constituencies and will continue till 6 pm, the official at the CEO office said.

Over 95 lakh voters in the five seats will decide the electoral fate of 80 candidates at 9,436 polling stations.

Of the total voters, 45.11 lakh are women, while 21 lakh are under 29 years of age and 1.26 lakh are in the age group of 18-19 years.

Notable contestants include NDA ally Chirag Paswan in Hajipur, Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya, who is pitted against two-term sitting BJP MP and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran, and Muzaffarpur’s sitting MP Ajay Nishad, who crossed over to the Congress after being denied a BJP ticket for a third term.

Sudhir Kumar Ojha, an advocate who remains in the news for his petitions against top political figures, Bollywood stars and even foreign heads of state, is contesting from Muzaffarpur.