Patna:
45 Assembly seats in six districts in the Maoist belt of Bihar go to polls in the second phase on Sunday.
The Election Commission has changed the poll timings in some constituencies after Maoists killed six policemen in Sheohar district on Friday.
(Read: 6 security personnel killed in Naxal attack)The EC has decided to hold polling in Sheohar and Belsand Assembly constituencies between 7:00 am and 3:00 pm along with three other Naxal-hit constituencies of Minapur, Paroo and Sahebgunj.
The Maoists have given a poll boycott call. Official sources said Maoists' posters have appeared on government buildings and polling stations in East Champarana, Sheohar, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts.
On Saturday, Maoists kidnapped an Intelligence branch officer and an NGO worker from Ayodhya area in Purulia district. The police say that the inspector was on leave and had gone there for some personal work. Partha Biswas and NGO worker Samarjit Basu were kidnapped four km west of Barabhum last midnight by Maoists, Intelligence sources said.
(Read:Maoists kidnap officials ahead of Bihar Phase II polls)Therefore, security has been beefed up in the Phase II poll constituencies. Officials are leaving nothing to chances. The Inspector General himself and Commissioners of Tirhut Division will keep surveillance from the air with Special Task Force personnel.
(Read: High security for Phase II polls) Chief Electoral Officer S K Rakesh said 44000 poll personnel would take part in the second phase of polling. He said there would be live webcast of polling.
Over 98 lakh voters will determine the fate of 623 candidates, including 46 women, at 10,315 polling stations, in East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts.
Political stalwarts whose fate will be decided include state RJD chief Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Alinagar), his JD(U) counterpart Vijay Kumar Choudhary (Sarairanjan), ministers
Ramnath Thakur (Samastipur) and Shahid Ali Khan (Sursand).
LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan's brother Ramchandra Paswan will be taking on CLP leader Ashok Kumar in Kusheshwa Asthan.
RJD Chief Whip Ramchandra Purve is contesting from Parihar, while former union minister M A A Fatmi's son Fraz Fatmi is in the fray from Kevati.
The Congress and the BSP are contesting all the seats. The ruling JD(U) is contesting 28 seats and ally BJP 17. The RJD is in the fray in 34 Assembly constituencies, and ally LJP
in 11. CPI-M and CPI have put up eight candidates each, while CPI-ML (Liberation) is contesting in 11 seats.
(With PTI Inputs)