Around 11.5 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 11 am on Thursday in the Bankipur assembly by-election in Bihar, an official said.
The voting started at 7 am in 422 polling stations and will continue till 6 pm.
"The polling has so far been peaceful. The voter turnout till 11 am was 11.5 per cent," the official said.
Around 3.8 lakh electors are eligible to seal the electoral fate of 26 candidates, including Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor.
Kishor, 49, a former poll strategist who launched the Jan Suraaj Party a few years ago, is contesting his first election, while the BJP, which has never lost the seat since 1995 when it was known as Patna West, has fielded low-key youth wing leader Neeraj Kumar Sinha.
Kishor's entry has intensified the contest in a constituency where the BJP has won by huge margins over the years.
Nabin, who gave up the seat in April upon election to the Rajya Sabha, had won the assembly segment for the fifth consecutive time in November last year, defeating nearest rival Rekha Gupta, the RJD candidate fielded by her party again this time, by over 50,000 votes.
Prominent politicians among those who voted till 11 am include BJP MP Ravishankar Prasad, senior party leader CP Thakur, his son and Nawada MP Vivek Thakur, and state ministers Ramkripal Yadav and Ashok Choudhary.
Nabin appealed to electors to come out in large numbers and cast their votes to strengthen the resolve of 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.
Describing the contest as one-sided, Ramkripal Yadav said that BJP’s candidate is well-poised for victory and claimed that Kishor will emerge as a "distant third in the election because people will scarcely vote for an outsider billionaire”.
“Who is Prashant Kishor? Is he a resident of Bankipur? Can he recall the names of five lanes in the assembly segment? People won’t vote for an outsider who is a billionaire. Nitin Nabin and his father are sons of this land. Neeraj Sinha is also a resident of Bankipur, who will serve the people,” Yadav said.
State minister Ashok Choudhary, who cast his vote, along with his wife Neeta Keskar Choudhary, at St Paul’s School, said that people need a representative who connects with them.
“Nitin Nabin ji was deeply connected to the people of Bankipur as an MLA. Neeraj Kumar Sinha, the BJP candidate, too, is a local worker who maintains a connection with the people,” the state minister said.
BJP MP 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.
Meanwhile, Kishor accused the police of detaining Jan Suraaj workers to help the BJP in the by-election.
“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.
Talking to reporters outside a polling booth near Patna’s Gol Ghar where Kishor and his party colleagues engaged in an argument with City SP (Central) Mamta Kalyani, the Jan Suraaj founder alleged that his polling agents were being detained by the police.
The SP denied 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.” 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, as mandated under ECI’s directives.
“It was found that some individuals from outside districts were present in the Bankipur assembly constituency, and indications were that they were involved in election campaigning during the 48-hour silence period. Therefore, in accordance with ECI directives, necessary legal action, including preventive detention, was carried out,” the statement read.
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 "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.
