Summary:
Patna, Dec 5 (PTI) Nearly 58 per cent voters exercised their franchise on Monday in the by-poll to Kurhani assembly segment of Bihar, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the BJP have locked horns for the first time since their nasty break-up four months ago.
Polling began on a brisk note at 7 am across all 320 booths, and by 1 pm, 37 per cent of 3.11 lakh voters had cast their votes.
The trend continued till 3 pm when the turnout stood at 48 per cent, though there was a slump in the final three hours.
It rose to only 53 per cent till 5 pm, and by the end of polling an hour later, the figure stood at 57.90 per cent, Chief Electoral Officer H R Srinivas told reporters.
He said the turnout for the constituency was significantly lower than the 64.19 per cent polling registered in 2020, when assembly elections took place in the state.
The by-poll was necessitated by the disqualification of sitting RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani.
The counting of votes is scheduled on December 8.
The CEO said no untoward incident was reported from anywhere during the by-poll, and altogether 15 minor complaints were received, all of which were promptly resolved.
He also said 446 ballot units and 476 VVPAT machines were used in polling.
A total of 119 electors voted through postal ballots.
Altogether 13 candidates, five of them Independents, were in the fray though the contest is being seen, primarily, as between BJP’s Kedar Gupta and JD(U)’s Manoj Singh Kushwaha, both of them former MLAs.
Gupta had lost to Sahani by less than 700 votes in the 2020 assembly polls, which the BJP and JD(U) had fought in alliance.
The JD(U) is now a part of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ comprising the RJD, Congress and the Left parties.
“Nitish Kumar stepped down as chief minister in 2014 when he had accepted the moral responsibility for the JD(U)’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.
Hope he will do the same when results come out for Kurhani,” said Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader and a former deputy CM of Bihar.
“The Mahagathbandhan’s campaign in Kurhani was marked by flagrant misuse of power.
Money was splurged and liquor was freely distributed despite prohibition law.
The administration turned a blind eye.
But, the people have snubbed the ruling alliance,” alleged Sushil Modi.
The contention was, however, summarily rejected by JD(U) parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha, who had campaigned intensively in the by-poll.
“We had expected to do well.