Patna: Voting commenced at 7 a.m. on Thursday across 18 districts of Bihar as the first phase of the Assembly elections got underway.
Electors are casting their votes in 121 constituencies, with 1,314 candidates, 1,192 men and 122 women, vying for seats. The Election Commission reports a total electorate of 3.75 crore, comprising 1.98 crore men, 1.76 crore women, and 758 third-gender voters.
Polling is being held at 45,341 stations, of which 36,733 are in rural areas and 8,608 in urban centres. All stations are equipped for webcasting. Among them, 320 have been designated as model booths, 926 are managed by women, and 107 are PwD-friendly.
Voting will continue until 6 p.m. in general booths, while six constituencies in Naxal-affected zones will close at 5 p.m. A mock poll was conducted earlier in the morning between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. in the presence of booth-level agents.
Districts participating in this phase include Khagaria, Munger, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura, Nalanda, Patna, Bhojpur, Madhepura, Saharsa, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, and Buxar.
Security has been intensified, with over 15 battalions of police and paramilitary forces deployed statewide. Sensitive and hyper-sensitive booths are under special surveillance, and every polling station is manned by security personnel.
Patna district alone hosts 5,677 polling stations, including 541 women-only booths, 49 model stations, 14 PwD-friendly sites, and three youth-themed booths.
In Muzaffarpur, voting is underway at 4,186 stations for 11 Assembly seats, with nearly 33 lakh eligible voters. In Lakhisarai, where several booths fall in Naxal-affected areas, polling will conclude an hour earlier. Sector officers and polling staff collected EVMs and materials from Gandhi Maidan on Wednesday.
Samastipur is witnessing polling across all 10 constituencies, with 29.32 lakh voters expected to cast their ballots at 3,603 stations. Authorities have assured that arrangements are in place to ensure a free, fair, and peaceful election.
(Inputs from IANS)