Bhojpur: Voting in the first phase of the Bihar assembly elections was briefly disrupted on Thursday after a confrontation between supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bhojpur left a polling agent injured.
Polling began across 121 constituencies in 18 districts, with the Election Commission reporting a turnout of 13.13% by 9am. According to officials, Saharsa recorded the highest participation in the opening hours, while Patna saw the lowest.
The clash in Bhojpur, which took place near a polling booth, was brought under control by security personnel. The injured polling agent was taken to a local hospital, and voting resumed shortly afterwards.
Several high-profile leaders cast their votes early in the day, including Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Mukesh Sahani, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, and deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha.
The first phase will determine the fate of 16 ministers in the Nitish Kumar government, alongside prominent candidates such as Anant Singh and Maithili Thakur.
