By IANS,
Patna: About 55 percent voter turnout was recorded in the assembly byelection in Laukaha constituency of Bihar Wednesday, officials said.
The bypoll, in Madhubani district, passed off peacefully with no untoward incidents being reported despite apprehensions of violence.
“In view of the Maoists threat, heavy security deployment was made and the (India-Nepal) border was sealed,” a police officer said.
More than 1,000 troopers of central paramilitary forces as well as the Bihar Military Police and district police were deployed at the polling stations.
District officials said polling was slow in the first few hours but picked up pace in the afternoon.
About 2.62 lakh people were eligible to cast their votes in the bypoll that saw nine candidates in the fray.
The byelection was necessitated following the death of ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) legislator and Panchayati Raj minister Hari Prasad Sah last month.
Sah’s son Satish Kumar Sah was the JD-U candidate for the seat. His main opponents were Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Mukhtar Ahmad, Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) nominee Satya Narayan Yadav and Congress candidate Ram Sunder Tarait.