Voters outside a polling booth in Bihar
Over 56 per cent voting was registered today in seven Lok Sabha seats of Bihar in the fifth phase of elections in the state which also witnessed death of one person in police firing outside a booth.
Sheohar registered 55.5 per cent voting, Sitamarhi 54 per cent, Muzaffarpur 61.92 per cent, Maharajganj 53 per cent, Saran 56 per cent, Hajipur (SC reserved) 56 per cent and Ujiyarpur 56 per cent, the Election Office statement said.
Despite impressive turnout of voters in the morning, the percentage did not increase later in the day and voting on two high profile seats of Saran and Hajipur (SC, Reserved) saw 56 per cent polling each.
While Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife Rabri Devi is pitted against BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Saleem Parvez of Janata Dal (United) at Saran, Lok Jansakta Party chief Ramvilas Paswan is in the fray from the Hajipur (SC) seat.
One person was killed in police firing outside a booth in Ramnagara village under Bathnaha police station area in Sitamarhi district during voting in the day, police said.
Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Ravindra Kumar told reporters that a woman was stopped from casting bogus votes following which a large number of villagers gathered and started quarrelling with the policemen.
During this an effort was made to snatch the rifle of a policeman which prompted him to open fire resulting in the death of a 40-year-old Khobhari Rai, the ADG said.
Following the incident, the villagers gheraoed booth number 224 at the primary school and took the election officials hostage.
The situation was brought under control after District Magistrate Pratima and Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar Sinha reached the spot.