Rich and criminals are in fray in Bihar Assembly elections

First out of five phases elections for Bihar Assembly begins on Monday morning. Polling for 49 seats out of 243 seats will be held today in 10 districts from 7 am to 5 pm. However, polling will conclude at 3-4 pm in some constituencies where Maoists influence is very high.

There are 583 candidates are in fray for 49 assembly seats in this first phase of elections. Out of them, BSP fields 41 candidates, BJP-27, CPI-25, JDU-24, RJD-17, Lok Janashakthi Party-13, CPM-12, INC-8, RLSP-6, NCP-6 and rest of the candidates are independents.

EC has arranged total 13,212 polling booths and all booths are equipped with Electronic Voting Machines. There are total 1, 35, 72, 339 voters in the 49 constituencies.

LJP President and Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan’s brother Pashupati Kumar Paras is contesting from Alauli constituency, Paswan’s nephew Prince Raj is contesting from Kalyanpur in this first phase of elections.

A total 130 candidates in this first round of elections are facing serious criminal charges, reports Democratic Reforms and National Elections Watch. Also, 146 candidates contesting in today’s elections are crorepatis. Bhagalpur is known to be one of a backward constituency in the state. Congress candidate contesting from there is the richest candidate with Rs.26 crores. According to latest information, 12.82 per cent polling recorded at 9 am.