Sunday, November 13 2005 09:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Polling began in 57 of 243 constituencies this morning (Nov 13, 2005) in the third of the four-phase Assembly elections amid tight security.

The state's borders with West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have been sealed.

Indian Air Force helicopters kept aerial surveillance and Border Security Force (BSF) contingents patrolled rivers, Bihar Home Secretary H C Sirohi told sources.

He said the Royal Nepal Army was patrolling their side of the international border which has been sealed on the Indian side by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and other forces.

Over 1.17 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to choose their representatives from a field of 494 candidates.

Over 72,000 personnel of central para-military forces and Bihar police have fanned out in the constituencies straddling 11 districts.

The security forces are armed with orders to shoot booth grabbers, Director General of Police Ashish Ranjan Sinha said.

Mounted police have been deployed in sensitive areas.

He said central para military forces have been posted at all the 12,786 polling stations.

Prominent among those whose fates will be decided in this phase include Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Bahera) his Janata Dal (JD) United (U) counterpart Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Supaul) and state Samajwadi Party chief Deonath Yadav (Phulparas).

Several ministers in the erstwhile Rabri Devi Government including Pitamber Paswan (Darbhanga rural), Rajesh Singh (Dhanha), Ramlakhan Ram Raman (Khajauli), Sarfaraz Alam (Jokihat) (all RJD), Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser (Simri Bakhtiyarpur) and Mohammed Javed (Thakurganj) are also in the fray.

Of the 57 seats where polling is being held, 18 were won by RJD and three by Congress this year in February this year.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and JD (U) had won 13 seats each, while Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Samajwadi Party had secured two each, Communist Party of India (CPI) one and Independents five.

Secular Democratic Front partners RJD, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) are contesting 42, 12, two and one seats respectively.

NDA constituencts JD(U) and BJP have put up candidates in 33 and 23 seats respectively leaving Sonbarsa for sitting Independent MLA Kishore Kumar.

LJP has fielded nominees in 48 constituencies and its ally CPI in nine.

Polling in 15 constituencies of East Champaran, West Champaran, Sitamarhi and Madhubani districts scheduled for today has been deferred till November 16 for security reasons.