1st phase of polling in Bihar today

Patna: After high pitch bitter campaigning which saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the rival camps led by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad holding a string of rallies, the stage is set for voting in 49 seats of Bihar Assembly elections in the first phase of the five-phase poll on Monday.
Additional Chief Electoral Officer R. Lakshamanan said a total of 1,35,72,339 electorate are eligible to decide the fate of 583 candidates for the 49 seats in 10 districts in the first phase of elections.
Lakshamanan said voting would start from 7 am. While in majority of seats polling would end at 5 pm, in some constituencies time has been cut short to 4 pm and 3 pm on the basis of law and order situation feedback in the Naxal-hit areas, he said.
Out of a general electoroate of 1,35,72,339 there are 72,37,253 men, 63,17,602 women and 405 of third gender. Lakshamanan said out of a total of 583 candidates in the field, there are 54 women nominees. (PTI)