Voting for 121 of the 243 Assembly seats in the first phase of the Bihar elections began at 7 am on Thursday. As of 1 pm, the voter turnout in Bihar was 42.3%, according to the Election Commission.

The Gopalganj district recorded the highest percentage of 46.7%, while the Patna district registered the lowest figure of 37.7%.

Polling is being held at 45,341 stations, most of them in rural areas. Of the 3.75 crore voters in these constituencies, 10.72 lakh are first-time voters, including 7.38 lakh aged 18-19 years.

The total population of these constituencies is 6.6 crore. Of these, about three crore people are not eligible to vote, mostly because they are underage.

Amid the polling, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and the Opposition’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav urged the

See Full Page