Patna, May 7 (UNI) An estimated 36.69 per cent of total 98,60,397 electorate exercised their franchise till 1 PM on Tuesday during the third phase Lok Sabha election to five seats in Bihar.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) sources said maximum 36.58 per cent polling was recorded in Supaul followed by 37.09 per cent in Araria, 36.84 per cent in Madhepura, 36.02 per cent in Khagaria and 34.94 per cent in Jhanjharpur Lok Sabha seats.
No untoward incident has so far been reported from anywhere, sources added.
CEO H R Srinivas said the polling percentage is expected to increase further with the passage of time.
He appealed to people to come out of their houses and exercise their franchise.
Meanwhile, a report from Supaul quoting District returning officer- cum-District Magistrate Kaushal Kumar said presiding officer Shailendra Kumar of polling booth number 158 died due to cardiac arrest even before the polling could begin at the booth.
The presiding officer suffered heart attack and fell unconscious when he had gone to respond call of the nature in the morning at 6:00 AM. He was rushed to the Sadar Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.
A total of 54 candidates, including three women, are in fray in the third phase Lok Sabha election.
The NDA and INDIA bloc candidates are in straight fight in all the five constituencies, which are the sitting seats of the NDA.
The BJP, JD(U) and LJP(Ram Vilas) main are the constituent units of the NDA whereas INDIA bloc has RJD, VIP and CPI(M) as its constituents in the third round of polling.
Congress, another constituent of the INDIA bloc has not fielded its candidate in this phase of Lok Sabha election.
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