Bihar: 18.48 pc voter turnout till 11 am in Rupauli Assembly bypoll

A voter turnout of 18.48 per cent was recorded till 11 am in the by-election to the Rupauli Assembly seat in Bihar on Wednesday, 10 July an official said.

Polling, which started at 7 am, will continue until 6 pm.

Over three lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to determine the fate of 11 candidates in the bypoll.

The by-election was necessitated due to the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who won the seat for JD(U) several times in the past, but quit the party to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a RJD ticket. Despite her loss in the parliamentary election, she is contesting again in the bypoll as an RJD candidate.

The JD(U) has fielded Kaladhar Prasad Mandal, who had contested the 2020 assembly polls from the seat as an independent.

Former MLA Shankar Singh, who had quit the LJP (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, is also in the fray as an independent.