A total of 45 per cent voters' turnout was recorded in Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency, while 49.26 per cent polling was registered in the bypolls on five assembly constituencies in Bihar, which passed off peacefully on Monday.
Out of 32,23,169 voters, 49.26 per cent people exercised their franchise on 3258 polling stations in five assembly constituencies of Kishanganj, Simri Bakhtiarpur, Nathnagar, Belhar and Daraundha in the by-elections in the state with a total of 51, including 6 women candidates, trying their luck in the fray.
"Polling passed off peacefully in all the five assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha constituency for which bypolls took place today," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), H R Srinivasa told reporters here.
While the by-poll in Samastipur has been necessitated by the death of sitting LJP MP Ramchandra Paswan, younger brother of the party's founding president Ramvilas Paswan, the five assembly segments have fallen vacant upon the respective MLAs getting elected to the Lok Sabha.
Kishanganj witnessed the highest voters' turnout of 59.18 per cent followed by 53.49 per cent in Belhar, 52.50 in Simri Bakhtiarpur, 43.20 in Nathnagar while Daraundha recorded lowest electoral participation of 42.20 per cent at the end of voting this evening, he said.
Samastipur lok sabha constituency saw 45 per cent voters turnout against the 60.63 voting percentage recorded during the 2019 general elections on the seat, said Srinivasa, who was accompanied by Additional Director General of Police (ADG) (Headquarters) Jitendra Kumar.
Similarly, five assembly constituencies, which polled 49.26 per cent during the day, witnessed 9.73 per cent lower turnout when compared to 58.99 voters participation in these constituencies during the general elections, the CEO said.
Asked about the reason for the drop in the turnout both in the Lok Sabha and the assembly seats, Srinivasa said "it has been witnessed that people don't show much interest during bypolls in comparison to general elections. This has happened despite commission's best efforts to increase turnout. There is no any other reason."
Some stray incidents of EVM malfunctioning, which hampered the voting, were reported initially but voting started soon after either rectifying technical problems in Electronic Voting Machines or replacing them, he said.
A total of 15 persons were arrested as part of preventive measure during Monday polling in the state, he said adding three persons were arrested in Banka (Belhar assembly seat) while 12 in Siwan (Daraundha seat).
The Commission received 36 different kinds of poll related complaints from lone lok sabha and five assembly constituencies, he said and added they were basically of smalll nature such as bogus voting, EVMs malfunctioning, polling withheld etc- which were timely redressed.
Briefing mediapersons, ADG(Headquarters) Jitendra Kumar said one polling agent of a political party was arrested as he was found with publicity and campaign materials of his party outside the polling station number 142 in Daraundha assembly constituency.
Another person was held near polling station number 206 in the same constituency after clash between two groups, he added.
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