Voting is underway on Monday for by-poll to Kurhani assembly seat in Bihar where 24 per cent of 3.11 lakh voters have exercised their franchise in the first four hours, an Election Commission official said.
Polling began, amid tight security, at 7 am across 320 booths in the constituency, and the poll percentage stood at 24 per cent till 11 am, he said. Tight security arrangements are in place across all the 320 booths, which are manned by central paramilitary forces besides local police, and the casting of votes will continue till 6 pm.
“Polling has been peaceful and no untoward incident has been reported so far,” the official said. By-poll to the assembly segment, falling in Muzaffarpur district, has been necessitated by the disqualification of RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani.
Altogether 13 candidates, including five Independents, are in the fray. The main contenders are former MLAs Kedar Gupta and Manoj Singh Kushwaha, fielded by the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) respectively. Others who are in the fray include Mohd Ghulam Murtaza (AIMIM) and Neelabh Kumar (VIP).
Gupta had lost to Sahani, in the 2020 assembly polls, by a slender margin of about 700 votes. In the by-election, the RJD is backing the JD(U). The counting of votes will take place on Thursday.
(With PTI inputs)
