Polling in first phase has begun in 71 Assembly constituencies of Bihar amid tight security on Wednesday morning. The Election Commission of India has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure free and fair polls. A total of 71 constituencies spread over 16 districts are going to polls in this phase. Over 2.14 crore electorates will decide fate of 1,066 candidates. 114 women and 406 independent candidates are in the fray. Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. Out of 71 seats, 35 are in Naxal-affected areas where voting will be held in staggered manner. Polling will be held upto 3 pm in four Naxal-affected constituencies of Chainpur, Nabinagar, Kutumba and Rafiganj while in other five Naxal-affected constituencies polling will be upto 5 pm. In the remaining 26 Naxal-affected constituencies, voting will be held upto 4 pm. In the first phase, a number of big names are trying their luck, this includes eight ministers -- Prem Kumar, Krishnandan Verma, Shailesh Kumar, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Jai Kumar Singh, Ramnarayan Mandal, Santosh Kumar Nirala and Brij Kishore Bind, apart from former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. In NDA, the BJP is contesting on 29 seats, JD(U) on 35 and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) on six seats in this phase. The Vikas Sheel Insaan Party (VIP) has fielded one candidate. Among the grand alliance partners, RJD is contesting on 42 seats, while Congress has fielded 21 candidates and eight CPI-ML candidates are in the fray. Besides, the LJP has fielded 42 candidates while RLSP on 43 and BSP on 27 seats. The Bihar polls is being conducted in three phases. While the first phase is being held today, the the second phase of polling for 94 seats will take place on November 3. The third phase of polling for the remaining 78 constituencies will be conducted on November 7. The results will be announced on November 10.
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