First phase of Bihar assembly polls today

First phase of Bihar Assembly elections would be held on Thursday in 121 constituencies spread across 18 districts.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling.
Polling will begin at 7 a.m. and conclude at 6 p.m. However, due to security considerations, polling time has been curtailed to 5 p.m. in Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Mahishi, Tarapur, Munger, Jamalpur, and in 56 polling booths of the Suryagarha Assembly segment.
In this phase, the political fate of a total of 1,314 candidates will be decided by over 3.75 crore electors. Among them are 122 women candidates, and one transgender candidate, who is contesting on a Jan Suraj Party ticket.
From the NDA, JD(U) is contesting the highest number of 57 seats, followed by BJP on 48, LJP (Ram Vilas) on 14, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha on 2 seats. In the Mahagathbandhan, RJD has fielded the highest number of 73 candidates, followed by 24 from Congress and 14 from CPI(ML) in the first phase.