Elections 2019: Voting begins for 5 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar

Technical glitches in EVMs though reportedly delayed the balloting process in Khagaria, Madhepuea and Araria, which will see over 88 lakh voters deciding the fate of 82 candidates, along with Supaul and Jhanjharpur

Patna: Large number of women were seen queued up outside polling booths in Bihar as voting for five Lok Sabha seats began on Tuesday in the third phase of the seven-phased process in the state. Technical glitches in EVMs though reportedly delayed the balloting process in Khagaria, Madhepuea and Araria, which will see over 88 lakh voters deciding the fate of 82 candidates, along with Supaul and Jhanjharpur -- all of which are in Koshi and Seemanchal region.

Voting begins for third phase of #LokSabhaElections2019 in 116 constituencies across 13 States & 2 Union Territories pic.twitter.com/exD9eq8T8y

— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2019

States which are voting in the third phase of Lok Sabha Elections are Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territories Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. https://t.co/gE6uy6Vduj

— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2019

Watch Video:

Heavy security arrangements have been made at the polling booths. Three helicopters have been requisitioned to provide air cover as well. "In the first hour, women in particular came out in large numbers. It has been a slow start but polling will pick up in the next three-four hours," an official said.

Bihar: Visuals from polling booth number 151 in Supaul parliamentary constituency where voting is yet to begin, currently mock poll is underway at the polling booth after a faulty EVM was replaced pic.twitter.com/GupGE3i8Pc

— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2019

Prominent candidates in the fray are Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Sharad Yadav from Madhepura seat, who is pitted against Pappu Yadav; Congress' Ranjeet Ranjan from Supaul, while the main contestant from Araria is RJD's Sarfaraz Alam; and LJP's Mahboob Ali Qaiser is from Khagaria seat, whose main contestant is VIP chief Mukesh Shahni. So far voting has been peaceful with no reports of violence.

Watch Video:

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!