Bihar Polls: 53.3 per cent vote in Phase 3, BJP claims sweep

Over 53.32 per cent voters cast their votes on Wednesday in the third round of the five-phased Bihar Assembly elections. According to the Election Commission, the percentage of female voters was slightly higher than the male voters.

The EC said high-security deployment was made in 10 constituencies, citing Maoist threat. “The voting process on all 10 Maoist-infested sensitive booths ended at 4 pm, an hour earlier than the usual time, due to safety reasons,” it said.

Exuding confidence that the “NDA will win 40 to 42 out of 50 seats”, senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said his claims were based on “reports coming from various constituencies”. He said: “The large turnout in all our rallies proves that people want change and they have voted for a government which can walk shoulder to shoulder with the Centre.”

RJD supremo Lalu Yadav, whose political legacy is at stake as his two sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi are contesting their maiden elections from Vaishali district’s Mahua and Raghopur constituencies, dismissed the BJP’s claims and said: “People of Bihar are smart enough not to get caught in the trap they (the BJP) have laid for them. The BJP, after getting exposed on the issue of reservation, is making such claims. They have lost this election and they know this.”

On the other hand, BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, holding several state unit leaders responsible for not using him for the campaign, said: “There is an election in Bihar and they have ignored the Bihari Babu completely and this has happened due to a few state unit leaders.”

When asked whether the BJP would take action against him for speaking against his own party, he said, “If this is the price I have to pay for speaking the truth, then I can’t do anything. But despite the poor performance in the Delhi election, they (the party) did not take any action against anyone.” He later clarified that he held no grudge against any central party leaders.

There were reports that BJP MP R.K. Singh did not vote in the third phase.

When asked to respond on Mr Sinha’s accusations and Mr Singh not turning up to vote, Mr Prasad refused to comment, saying, “As usual there is nothing to comment on Shatrughan Sinha’s statement and as far as R.K. Singh is concerned, you should ask him why he didn’t exercise his franchise.”