Polling Commences: Eight Lok Sabha Seats in Bihar Amid Tight Security!

Polling has commenced for eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar amid tight security.

Polling has started for eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar amidst stringent security measures.

Siwan/Vaishali/Sheohar, Voting began for eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar amidst tight security on Saturday morning, officials said.

The polling started at 7 am in Valmiki Nagar, Pashchim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Sheohar, Siwan, Gopalganj, Maharajganj, and Vaishali constituencies. It will continue until 6 pm, officials said.

Over 1.49 crore voters will determine the electoral fate of 86 candidates in this phase in the state, they added.

The constituencies where elections are being held are largely rural, with only 1,281 of the total 14,872 polling stations located in urban areas, officials said.

CM Nitish Kumar's JD is contesting four seats, including Sheohar, which was won by the BJP five years ago.

The primary contest in Sheohar is between Lovely Anand, whom the JD has fielded hoping to capitalize on the popularity her family is said to enjoy among upper caste Rajputs, and RJD's Ritu Jaiswal, who is tapping into the resentment among Vaishyas, traditionally BJP supporters, following the denial of a ticket to sitting MP Rama Devi, who had won the seat many times.

In Siwan, the dynamics have shifted for JD and RJD with the entry, as an Independent, of Hina Shahab, whose late husband, Mohd Shahabuddin, had won the seat several times.

In a move to avoid showing excessive pro-upper caste leanings and to consolidate its OBC base, the JD has denied the ticket to sitting MP Kavita Singh and fielded a newcomer, Vijaylakshmi Kushwaha. The RJD candidate, Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, is a seasoned leader, a multiple-term MLA, and a former assembly speaker.

The BJP is contesting three of the eight seats, including Pashchim Champaran, where former state president Sanjay Jaiswal aims for a fourth consecutive win.

The opposition candidate here is VIP's Rajesh Kushwaha, formerly with RJD, whose candidature is seen as an attempt at OBC consolidation to challenge Singh, an upper caste Rajput.

The BJP has also supported sitting MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal in his seat of Maharajganj. Sigriwal's attempt to secure a hat-trick is being contested by Akash Prasad Singh of the Congress, whose father, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, is a Rajya Sabha MP and heads the party's state unit.