As many as 1,066 candidates are in the fray in the first phase of the poll. The prominent candidates whose electoral fate has been locked in the EVMs are Shreyasi Singh, a CWG gold medallist shooter, and six members of the outgoing cabinet — Prem Kumar (Gaya Town), Vijay Kumar Sinha (Lakhisarai), Ram Narayan Mandal (Banka), Krishnanandan Prasad Verma (Jehanabad), Jaikumar Singh (Dinara) and Santosh Kumar Nirala (Rajpur).
Deputy Election Commissioner in-charge of EVMs said in Delhi that the functioning of electronic voting machines was “very satisfactory” during the polling. A minuscule 0.22 per cent of the total 41,689 ballot units, 0.25 per cent of the total 31,371 control units and 1.28 per cent of the total 31,371 paper trail machines were replaced due to malfunctioning, the officer said.
In 12 polling stations of Jamui, the poll timing was increased by one hour due to the delay in replacing the faulty machines, he said. One control unit and at least one ballot unit makes for one EVM. Deputy Election Commissioner in charge of Bihar, Chandra Bhushan Kumar said in Delhi that overall cash seizure in Bihar so far stood at Rs 46.11 crore including foreign currency worth Rs 89.30 lakh.
Across all 16 districts that went to poll on Wednesday, voters were seen queuing up at polling stations since early morning and COVID-19 norms were largely followed with people wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance from each other.
At a polling station in Jalpura village of Bhojpur district, there were not many voters around 3.15 pm when a PTI reporter went to cast his ballot, but plastic hand gloves were strewn all around, used and discarded by electors.
Hand sanitisers were kept at the entrance and the exit gates of the booth. Some people, however, were seen without a face mask.
“We have hand gloves, but some people are refusing to wear,” said Angad Kumar, the presiding officer of one of the four booths at the polling station. A 55-year-old polling agent died of heart attack in Nawada district. Officials said Krishna Singh was deployed at booth number 258 in Foolawa village of Hisua assembly constituency.
They said Singh complained of severe heart pain and was rushed to the Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead. As many as 159 people were detained as a preventive measure during the polling, the election panel said.
