Election Commission orders repoll at 33 polling centres in Bihar

PATNA: The Election Commission today ordered repoll at 33 polling centres spread across five Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, an official said here.

The repoll dates for the centres in Karakat, Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui Lok Sabha constituencies, which went to polls yesterday during the first phase of elections in the state, would be announced later on, Additional Chief Electoral Officer R Lakshmanan said.

"A majority of the centres on which repoll will be conducted are those where polling party could not reach due to security reasons. Complaints from voters, faulty EVMs and clash at two or three booths are the other reasons for repoll," Lakshmanan said. Jamui, with 19, has the highest number of centres where repoll would be held. It would be followed by Nawada with six, Aurangabad with four as well as Gaya and Karakat with two centres each, he said.

Lakshmanan said the EC has marked deficiencies in the first phase of polls and has issued instructions to remove them in the rest of the five phases of elections in the state. This includes monitoring of polling through SMS. Apart from the five Lok Sabha seats, voting was held yesterday for the Sasarm constituency.

Meanwhile, the nomination process for the fifth phase of elections in the state for Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Maharajganj, Saran, Hajipur and Ujiyarpur constituencies will start tomorrow and the polling will be held on May 7.