44 per cent votes cast in Bihar Legislative Council polls

PATNA: Forty-four per cent voters turned out during the first four hours of the ongoing polls to 24 Legislative Council seats in Bihar, billed as a virtual semi-final ahead of the crucial Assembly polls later this year.

Nawada Legislative Council seat witnessed the highest voters' turnout at 74.85 per cent, followed by Nalanda (66), Gaya-Jehanabad-Arwal (61) Muzaffarpur (60), a press release issued by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said.

However, Darbhanga and Samastipur recorded only 17 and 15 per cent voter turnout respectively.

A total of 1,38,904 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the Legislative Council polls to 24 seats in which 152 candidates are in the fray.

The EC has set up 534 polling booths to enable the eligible votes to cast their franchise.

Both the alliances comprising the RJD, JD(U), Congress and NCP on one hand and the BJP-led NDA have fielded candidates in all the 24 seats.

Among the secular alliance constituents, RJD and JD(U) are contesting on 10 seats each followed by Congress (three) and NCP (one), while in the NDA, the BJP has put up candidates on 18 seats followed by LJP (4) and RLSP (2).