53.32% voting recorded in third phase of Bihar elections: As it happened

## 53.32% voting recorded till 5 PM. Saran - 52.50%, Vaishali - 54.82%, Nalanda - 54.11%, Patna - 51.82%, Bhojpur - 53.33%, Buxar - 56.58%

## 49.55% voters exercised their franchise till 4 PM. Saran - 49.99%, Vaishali - 52.87%, Nalanda - 47.24%, Patna - 46.50%, Bhojpur - 50.89%, Buxar - 55.18%

## 45.59% polling registered till 3 PM. Saran - 47.53%, Vaishali - 49.27%, Nalanda - 43.87%, Patna - 42.16%, Bhojpur - 44.45%, Buxar - 51.52%

## 34.52% voting recorded till 2 PM. 43.16% in Saran, 42.22% in Vaishali, 38.54% in Nalanda, 34.34% in Patna, 42.60% in Bhojpur, 45.68% in Buxar.

## 33.88% voting recorded till 1 PM. Saran 37.96% in Saran, 35.24% in Vaishali, 32.17% in Nalanda, 30.92% in Patna, 33.70% in Bhojpur, 35.97% in Buxar.

## Voters crossing Ganga to cast their votes.

## 26.94% voting recorded till 12 noon. Saran 28.45% in Saran, 30.53% in Vaishali, 27.39% in Nalanda, 23.03% in Patna, 27.06% in Bhojpur, 30.05% in Buxar.

## Conjoined twins Shaba and Faraha cast their vote for the first time in Digha, Patna. They have a single voter id:

## 20.72% voting recorded till 11 AM. Saran 23.94% in Saran, 24.09% in Vaishali, 21.36% in Nalanda, 16.35% in Patna, 20.67% in Bhojpur, 22.03% in Buxar.

## 14.09% voting recorded till 10 AM in third phase. Saran 15.20% in Saran, 20.14% in Vaishali, 16.24 in Nalanda, 11.05% in Patna, 10.44% in Bhojpur, 13.60% in Buxar

## 90-year-old Nazma Khatoon from Fular village, Mahua casts her vote.

## Union Minister Arun Jaitley says Bihar elections are not about conventional arithmetic any more. "People from all sections are with BJP," he said.

## 12% voting recorded till 9 AM in the crucial third phase of elections.

## RJD chief Lalu Prasad, wife Rabri Devi, wife Tej Pratap cast their votes at Loyala School booth number 150 in Patna.

## 4.04% polling has been recorded in first hour of 3rd phase of till 8 AM. 4% in Saran, 3.37% in Vaishali, 3.72% in Nalanda, 4.49% Patna, 4.00% in Bhojpur and 4.37% in Buxar.

## Rajendra Smarak Booth in Chhapra

## Lalu Yadav's son Tejaswi casts his vote in Patna.

## Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi casts his vote in Rajendra Nagar in Patna. "BJP is not playing caste politics, but caste politics is reality of Bihar," he said. He also added that "Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal backing Mahagathbandhan will not help them, Bihar has decided for change."

## As many as 1,107 companies of Central Para Military Forces and state police would be deployed on the day to ensure peaceful voting. While 50 mounted police force are deployed in general areas, 47 motor boats have been pressed into services for patrolling the riverine areas, Lakshamanan said.

## Of the total 14,170 polling stations, 6,747 have been declared as critical and 1,909 as Left Wing Extremist hit polling stations.

## A total of 808 candidates are in the fray, out of which 71 are female.

## Voting slow in Chhapra town as very few people are coming out. While in Saran district, voters are turning out in good numbers in Ekma and Manjhi seats.

## Polling would end at 4 PM in 10 constituencies due to security reasons and at 5 PM in the rest 40 constituencies, Additional Chief Electoral Officer R Lakshamanan said.

## Voting started at scheduled 7 AM in 14,170 polling stations spread in six districts of Patna, Vaishali, Saran, Nalanda, Buxar and Bhojpur districts.

Voting in 50 seats in six districts of Bihar is underway for the crucial third phase of the assembly elections in the state. This phase is a personal battle for Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad as the fate of both his sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi will be sealed on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's home turf of Nalanda also goes to polls on Wednesday while voting will also be held in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongholds like Saran, Bhojpur and Buxar. Even Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan's hold over his traditional area in Vaishali district is under test.

Lalu Prasad is trying to bequeath his political legacy to his offsprings, a battle he lost in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when his daughter Misa Bharti lost from Pataliputra constituency to his one-time close aide and now rival Ram Kripal Yadav.

Faced with an existential crisis, Lalu, who is debarred from contesting elections and holding any elected post due to his conviction in a fodder scam case, has placed his bet on his sons, both of whom are making their political debut in an election that will reveal if the RJD chief's brand of politics is still relevant or the state has moved beyond the clarion call of 'caste'ing the vote. Although his sons are contesting from seats in Vaishali district but Lalu's other stronghold of Saran where the BJP has made major gains in the last couple of years is also voting in the third phase.

After the first two phases in which votes were cast in 81 seats, the Mahagahthbandhan has been claiming victory but now the area where polling is going to take place has been traditionally the BJP's strength. Although both parties have put up most of the candidates keeping the caste equation in mind yet in many seats the divide seemed to have withered away.

The Janata Dal United holds 23 seats but is contesting in only 18 this time while the BJP has put up candidates in 34 constituencies even though the party had won only 20 in the 2010 Assembly elections. Lalu's RJD, had won seven seats in the last elections, but is contesting in 25.

More than 1.45 crore people are eligible to vote and will decide the fate of 808 candidates across 13,648 booths.