Lok Sabha Election: Bihar surpasses the first phase turnout in five seats but falls short of the 2019 target.
Lok Sabha Election 2024
Lok Sabha Election: Kishanganj, Katihar, and Purnia in the Seemanchal region—which, aside from Bhagalpur and Banka, has a sizable Muslim population—were the seats whose fate was decided on Friday.
Five of the state’s forty seats were up for election on Friday in the second phase of Bihar’s seven-phase parliamentary elections, which concluded smoothly. The state’s provisional voter turnout for the second phase was 58.58%, which is almost 10% higher than the first phase.
Kishanganj, Katihar, and Purnia in the Seemanchal region—which, aside from Bhagalpur and Banka, has a sizable Muslim population—were the seats whose fate was decided on Friday.
Bihar’s chief electoral officer, HR Srinivasa, told reporters, “The overall turnout in these five seats dropped by 4.34% from 62.92% in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019.”
As of 6:30 p.m., voting is still ongoing, and polling places in Purnia, Kishanganj, and Katihar are lined up with voters. As the results are announced at midnight, we anticipate that the final voter turnout will surpass 60%,” Srinivasa stated.
Lok Sabha Election: According to a press release from the CEO office, Kishanganj recorded the highest provisional voting percentage of 64%, compared to 66.35% in 2019. Katihar came in second with 64.60%, compared to 66.72% the previous time; Purnia came in third with 59.94%, compared to 65.37% in 2019; Banka came in fourth with 54%, compared to 58.60% in 2019; and Bhagalpur came in fifth with 51%, compared to 57.17% in the previous elections.
Even in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, which took place on April 19 and saw voting in Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada, and Jamui, there was a 4.21% decrease in voter turnout compared to 2019. The overall voting percentage was 49.26.
Voters in the three parliamentary seats of Banka, Bhagalpur, and Kishanganj boycotted polling on Friday at eleven booths due to the lack of development in the area.
Voters at eight polling places (48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 109, and 110) in the Kishanganj parliamentary constituency’s Amour assembly segment, two (booth numbers 92 and 93) in the Bhagalpur assembly constituency, and booth number 192 in the Sultanganj assembly segment under the Banka parliamentary constituency boycotted the polls due to various development-related issues, according to Srinivasa.
“The villagers were adamant and stood their ground, even though senior district officials tried to persuade them to come out and vote,” Srinivasa said, noting that re-elections would not take place at such booths.
Lok Sabha Election: He said that district officials made an effort to get voters to cast their ballots by “miking,” or announcing things over the loudspeaker, giving elderly voters over 85 free transportation to the polls, helping people with disabilities get to the polls, and setting up a medical kit, drinking water, and a shed.
The temperature reached about 44 degrees Celsius between 12 noon and 3 pm, which resulted in a decrease in voter turnout. It’s interesting to note that, according to poll officials, the overall voter participation in these five constituencies decreased by 1.5% by 3pm, when the voting percentage was 44.24, from 21.68% at 11am, an increase of 2.7% over the same period in 2019.
The five constituencies that voted on Friday saw high temperatures between 40 and 44 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD’s prediction of a “loo” (heat wave) in Purnia. The forecast called for dry weather.
On election day, 126 persons were taken into custody, and one liter of alcohol and a car were taken. 46 of them were taken into custody in Bhagalpur, 31 in Katihar, 29 in Purnia, and 20 in Kishanganj, according to assistant director general of police Jitendra Singh Gangwar.
He said that during the second phase, up to 1,799 vulnerable places had been identified, and numerous non-bailable warrants had been executed.
Since the elections were announced on March 16 and April 25, ₹30.43 lakh in cash has been confiscated; Purnia accounted for ₹6.63 lakh, Katihar for ₹4 lakh, and Kishanganj for ₹3.01 lakh. Bhagalpur accounted for ₹16.78 lakh of this total. In addition, ₹4.40 crore worth of illicit booze and 21.5 kg of drugs were taken into custody, according to Gangwar.
Four of the five seats up for voting on Friday are presently held by JD-U. Congress won Kishanganj in 2019.
JD(U) had granted tickets to its MPs: Girdhari Yadav from Banka, Santosh Kumar from Purnia, Dulalchand Goswami from Katihar, and Ajay Kumar Mandal from Bhagalpur. Mujahid Alam, a former MLA, was handed a ticket by the JD(U) to Kishanganj, where it lost the previous election.
Lok Sabha Election: With the exception of Purnia, the NDA was directly challenged by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. The Congress was running for three seats, including Md. Javed in Kishanganj, Tariq Anwar in Katihar, and Ajit Sharma in Bhagalpur, while the RJD was running for two, including Purnia’s Bharti and Banka’s Jai Prakash Yadav.
Lok Sabha Election: Bima Bharti, a JD(U) defector who had only joined the RJD a month prior, was engaged in a triangle of rivalry in Purnia with JD(U) MP Santosh Kumar and former MP Rajesh Ranjan, also known as Pappu Yadav, who was running as an Independent.
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