57.86% voting in fifth phase of polls in Bihar

Patna, May 6 (IANS) Ignoring the scorching heat, 57.86 per cent of the over 87 lakh electorate in Bihar's five constituencies which went to the polls in the fifth phase on Monday cast their vote till 6 p.m., officials said.

Voting in Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Hajipur and Saran parliamentary constituencies was held amid tight security and passed off without any violence, save some clashes between supporters of rival parties, as per officials at the police headquarters here.

Long queues were seen at polling booths in rural as well as urban pockets of these constituencies despite heat wave-like conditions. Women were seen in large numbers outside polling booths in the initial three hours of voting.

Among the 82 candidates are in the fray, the prominent include Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Chandrika Rai, the father-in-law of party supremo Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, in Saran, where he faced former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In Muzaffarpur, the BJP's sitting MP Ajay Nishad is contesting against Raj Bhushan Choudhary of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), a part of the opposition Grand Alliance.

In Hajipur seat, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate Pashupati Kumar Paras is being challenged by the RJD's Shiv Chandra Ram. Paras is the younger brother of LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who decided not to contest for the first time in more than four decades.

Rebel Congress candidate Shakeel Ahmad made the battle triangular in Madhubani where VIP's Badri Purve faced the BJP's Ashok Kumar Yadav.

In Sitamarhi, the ruling Janata Dal-United's Sunil Kumar Pintu was fighting against RJD's Arjun Rai.