42% polling till 1 pm; Modi, Priyanka campaign for phase 2

The RJD CM candidate Tejashwi Yadav aims at a hat-trick in the Raghopur seat, while his principal challenger, Satish Kumar of the BJP, had defeated his mother Rabri Devi in 2010 while contesting on a JD(U) symbol.Voting in the first phase of the Bihar assembly elections began on Thursday morning (November 6), amid tight security arrangements, an official said.The polling commenced at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm.In this phase, 3.75 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,314 candidates, including top leaders such as INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of the BJP.Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to electors to cast their votes with full enthusiasm. “Today marks the first phase of the celebration of democracy in Bihar. I urge all voters in this phase of the assembly elections to cast their votes with full enthusiasm,” he wrote on X.The RJD candidate aims at a hat-trick in the Raghopur seat, while his principal challenger, Satish Kumar of the BJP, had defeated his mother Rabri Devi in 2010 while contesting on a JD(U) symbol.Choudhary, who is enjoying his second consecutive term in the legislative council, is contesting a direct election after about a decade from Tarapur. The former state BJP president faces a stiff challenge from RJD’s Arun Kumar Sah, who had lost the seat in 2020 by a margin of about 5,000 votes.The other Deputy CM in the Nitish Kumar government, Vijay Kumar Sinha, will also have his electoral fate decided in the first phase of polls.Sinha hopes to retain Lakhisarai for the fourth consecutive term, surmounting the not-so-formidable challenge provided by Amresh Kumar of the Congress and Suraj Kumar of the Jan Suraaj Party.Voting will take place at 45,341 polling stations, an overwhelming majority of which (36,733) fall in rural areas.

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