Bihar third phase poll tomorrow

Patna, April 23: The third phase of Bihar Lok Sabha election in seven constituencies will be held tomorrow to decide the fate of 108 candidates, including BJP's Shahnawaz Hussain, NCP General Secretary Tariq Anwar and former Union minister and RJD leader Mohammad Taslimuddin.

The seven constituencies going to poll - Supual, Araria, Kisanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Banka and Bhagalpur - are located in the Seemanchal area bordering Bangladesh and Nepal. Over 1.04 crore electors are expected to exercise their franchise in 9840 polling stations in the seven constituencies.

Repoll will also be held tomorrow for the Assembly segments of Baisi in Purnea and Kochadhaman in Kisanganj. In minority-dominated Bhagalpur seat sitting BJP MP Hussain is facing triangular contest with Abu Kaiser of JD(U) and Bullo Mandal of RJD.

JD(U) candidate for Kisanganj, Akhtarul Iman withdrew his nomination which has pitched Congress' Maulana Asrarul Haque and BJP's Dilip Jaiswal in a straight fight in the constituency. NCP leader Anwar is locked in a keen battle with BJP's Nikhil Chaudhary and JD(U)'s Ramprakash Mahto.

A total of 57,000 security personnel, belonging to 221 companies of security forces, including 147 central forces like CRPF, ITBP, BSF, CISF and RPF would be on duty on the polling day, state Chief Secretary A K Sinha said.

Voting would be held from 7 AM to 6 PM in all polling booths except in two assembly segments of Banka constituency. In Banka and Katoria Assembly segments of Banka constituency, voting would be held till 4 PM due to Maoist threat in the area.

PTI