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Brisk voting in Bihar despite Maoist attacks
Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:43:34 PM, IANS
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Patna:
Millions voted in 45 constituencies in the second phase of
assembly elections in Bihar Sunday despite two attacks by Maoists
who have called for an election boycott.
Balloting began on a low key early in the morning but picked up
later, officials here said. By afternoon, 31 percent of the 9.8
million eligible voters had exercised their franchise.
Long queues of men and women formed outside most polling stations
in the districts of Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Motihari,
Sheohar and Sitamarhi.
Maoists tried to disrupt the polling in two places in the Runni
Saidpur constituency of Sitamarhi.
The rebels abducted four polling officials but released them
within an hour, a police officer said.
The Maoists also tried to ransack a polling booth and burn
documents in the same area, Additional Director General of Police
P.K. Thakur said.
Around 15 percent voting had been recorded in the first four
hours. The voting began at 7 a.m. amid tight security "and has so
far been (largely) peaceful," Bihar police chief Neelmani told
IANS here.
Neelmani said there were no reports of violence except for minor
clashes and a move by troublemakers to disturb polling at a few
booths.
According to reports reaching here, voters in over a dozen
villages boycotted the polls and shouted slogans saying they would
not vote because of lack of development in their area.
In a few places the electronic voting machines broke down,
delaying the electoral process.
The central paramilitary forces manned 85 percent of the polling
booths. The Special Task Force used helicopters for air
surveillance.
The second phase of voting will decide the fate of 623 candidates.
Most of the 9,952 polling booths are in rural areas.
The stakes are high for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as well as for
the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti
Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan.
The Congress, fighting the election on its own, is eying to make
its presence felt in the Tirhut-Mithilanchal belt, which is known
a RJD-LJP bastion.
Four more rounds of polling will take place Oct 28, Nov 1, 9 and
20. Votes will be counted Nov 24. In the first phase Thursday,
balloting took place in 47 out of Bihar's 243 assembly seats.
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