Patna

Around 20 per cent of 3.8 lakh electors cast their votes till 1 pm on Thursday in Bankipur assembly seat of Bihar, where a bypoll, necessitated by the resignation of BJP president Nitin Nabin, is witnessing a fierce battle between his party and Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor.

Polling began at 7 am and continued on a tepid note, in line with the constituency's reputation for very low turnouts, which stood at 20.01 per cent in the first six hours of voting.

Nonetheless, enough political heat was generated on account of fierce trading of charges by Kishor, who alleged that the police had wrongfully picked up his supporters at the behest of the ruling party, and the BJP, which charged the former poll strategist with having brought in "fake voters".

Kishor, who stormed a police station in Patna late Wednesday evening, staying put till the early hours of Thursday, accused the police of acting as an “extension of a political party” and “trying to help the BJP” by detaining Jan Suraaj workers and “obstructing its voters”.

“More than 16 Jan Suraaj workers were detained by the police between Wednesday evening and night. They were kept at different police stations without specifying any reason, and then shifted to Danapur police station before being taken to the Shahpur PS,” he said.

Mritunjay Tiwari, who was recently inducted into the BJP after resigning from the RJD, alleged that Jan Suraaj workers were trying to bring fake voters to Bankipur.

“The BJP has requested EC officials to verify and inspect voter identities, so that in a democracy, people can exercise their right to vote freely, fairly, and transparently,” he said.

Tiwari claimed that the Jan Suraaj strategy of using “fake voters” would not work and Kishor’s “security deposits will be forfeited”.

Talking to reporters outside a polling booth near Patna’s Gol Ghar where Kishor and his party colleagues had a heated exchange with City SP (Central) Mamta Kalyani, the Jan Suraaj founder alleged that his polling agents were being detained by the police.

Kalyani repudiated the allegations, saying, “Everyone has the right to vote. No one is being obstructed. We are making a continuous appeal that everyone should come and vote but not form groups because that violates election protocols.”

Many prominent politicians were among those who had voted till 1 pm, in the assembly segment that covers a major part of the state capital. Those who came out to vote included local BJP MP Ravishankar Prasad, senior party leader CP Thakur, his son and Nawada MP Vivek Thakur, and state ministers Ramkripal Yadav (BJP) and Ashok Choudhary (JDU).

JD(U) president and former chief minister Nitish Kumar’s elder sister Usha Devi and Neeraj Kumar Sinha, the BJP candidate, were also seen turning up at their assigned booths to cast their votes.

Nabin, who gave up the seat in April upon election to the Rajya Sabha, barely six months after having won it for a fifth consecutive term, urged voters to come out in large numbers and "strengthen the resolve for a developed India".

“I appeal to all the voters of the Bankipur (Bihar), Manjalpur (Gujarat) and Datia (Madhya Pradesh) assembly constituencies, especially the youth and women, to come out in large numbers to cast their votes and make their invaluable contribution toward strengthening the resolve of a Viksit Bharat,” he wrote in his X post.

BJP's Bihar unit president Sanjay Saraogi also urged people to exercise their franchise early in the day for the development of Bankipur.

Ravishankar Prasad, who voted at Patna Women’s College along with his wife and son, exuded confidence that the BJP would register a decisive victory in the by-election.

“I have been voting in this constituency for the last 20 years. People here share a long-standing association with the BJP due to the development works carried out by the NDA governments led by Nitish Kumar and Samrat Choudhary. People want that development should continue with greater momentum. The BJP’s candidate is headed for a decisive victory from Bankipur,” Prasad said.

Describing the contest as "one-sided", Ramkripal Yadav said that BJP’s candidate was poised for a victory and claimed that Kishor will emerge as a "distant third in the election because people will not vote for an outsider billionaire".

According to a statement issued by the Patna SSP office, several individuals were taken into preventive custody because they, being non-resident campaigners of Bankipur, had not left the constituency during the 48-hour silence period, as mandated under ECI’s directives.

The police, however, did not disclose the identity of the detainees nor did it specify if they were Jan Suraaj campaigners.

Kishor claimed that around 10 of the detained Jan Suraaj workers were from Patna district and not outsiders.

He also met the family members of one of his supporters near Mandiri Nala in Bankipur, who was allegedly "taken away by police around 2 am on Thursday".

According to a statement issued by the Patna DM, eight super zonal magistrates, 16 zonal magistrates and 42 sector magistrates are deployed to ensure free, fair and peaceful voting.

Additional forces are stationed in sensitive areas, and officials have been directed to verify suspicious voter identity cards by scanning QR codes through the Election Commission app and register FIRs in cases of fake IDs, it added.

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Although Kishor has emerged as the principal challenger to the BJP, which has never lost the seat since 1995 when it was known as Patna West, altogether 26 candidates are in the fray, including RJD's Rekha Gupta, who had lost to Nabin last year by over 50,000 votes.

Around 3.8 lakh electors are eligible to seal the electoral fate of 26 candidates.