Patna: Over 54 per cent polling, almost 15 per cent more than the previous election, was registered in seven Lok Sabha seats in Bihar on Thursday in the second phase in the state.
Elections held for Munger, Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Arrah, Buxar and Jehanabad seats registered 54.04 at the end of polling at 6 pm, Election Commission sources said.
It was 39.33 per cent in the seats in 2009.
All the seven seats recorded above 50 per cent voting with Buxar topping the list at 57 per cent, while Patna Sahib and Patliputra registered 52 per cent, the sources said.
Voting picked up late at Nalanda, the home constituency of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and reached 55 per cent.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, former union home secretary RK Singh were among 117 candidates whose electoral fates were sealed in EVMs.
Arrah from where former union home secretary RK Singh was in the race from BJP saw 53 per cent voting against 35.77 per cent last time.
The Chief Minister cast his vote at a booth in Bakhtiyarpur under the Patna Sahib parliamentary constituency.
Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi voted at a booth in Patna as also Shatrughan Sinha.
Governor DY Patil and his wife voted at a school near Raj Bhawan.
In Jehanabad, RJD and CPI-ML workers clashed outside at booth in the Ghosi Assembly segment forcing police to fire four rounds in the air to disperse them.
A report from Lakhisarai quoting Sub-Divisional Police Officer Manoj Kumar Tiwari said workers of the BJP and JD(U) clashed in a bazaar under Suryagraha Assembly segment in the Munger parliamentary seat, but none was injured.
State Chief Electoral Officer Ajay V Nayak said, "Around 10 to 12 per cent increase in polling was noticed in all the seven constituencies. The maximum increase of 22 per cent was in Nalanda constituency."
Nayak said repolling would be held in 16 polling stations where voting could not be held due to various reasons.
These included four places in Jamalpur under Munger Lok Sabha constituency where polling personnel could not reach due to security reasons.
Among others, four were in Nalanda parliamentary constituency, two in Munger and one in Patliputra. People boycotted elections at these places over development-related issues.
An EVM was damaged at one polling station at Bikram in Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency.
The EC used VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines for the first time at 1,746 polling stations out of 1,818 polling stations in Patliputra constituency.####
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