32.27 % polling in 5 PCs of Bihar till 1 pm

Speed Post News Network

Patna : Polling is underway in five parliamentary constituencies (PCs) in Bihar : Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran, and Hajipur, on May 6, 2019, under tight security arrangements. Till 1 pm, 32.27 % voters had exercised their franchise at 8,899 polling booths in these 5 PCs located in North Bihar where poll was held in the 5th phase of General Elections 2019 on May 6.

One person was taken into custody in Saran PC for damaging an EVM.  Gopal Paswan was arrested for allegedly destroying a voting machine at polling station number 131 in Saran constituency. The damaged EVM was replaced with a fresh one. Police are questioning the arrested person to know motive behind his action, a senior police official said.
“The voting process was delayed by around 30 minutes at six polling stations of Saran, two in Madhubani, and one each in Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur constituencies due to technical glitches in the EVMs, but the officials have attended to the issues,” according to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Bihar, H R Srinivas.
At village Dumri under Muzaffarpur PC, a group of people boycotted the polls citing lack of development in the region. The poll officials in Muzaffarpur also took note of posters with BJP’s slogan ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’ pasted on the walls about 50 metres away from the booths at a primary school at Gobarsahi, said an official. SSP, Muzaffarpur, Manoj Kumar said an FIR has been lodged in this connection against unidentified persons for violating the model code of conduct.  One Namrata flew to Bihar from Canada to cast her vote in Muzaffarpur PC.

In Jharkhand, 45.98 % voters had exercised their franchise in the 4 PCs where poll was held on May 6, 2019, in the 5th phase.