Bihar voting underway, six per cent polling in the first hour
Reports said about six per cent votes were cast in the first hour after voting began at seven am.
The crucial third phase tests Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav on home ground.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the people of the state to cast their votes in large numbers.
23 of the 50 seats where polling is being held were won by Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) last time. The BJP, then a partner of the JD(U), had won 19. Lalu Yadav's RJD had won eight.
The BJP, now taking on the JD(U), is contesting 34 seats and its regional allies the rest.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD leads the anti-BJP grand alliance in this phase is contesting 25 of the 50 seats. Lalu Prasad's two sons, Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav are contesting elections for the first time respectively from Mahua and Raghopur.
Polling is being held for seven seats in Nalanda, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's home turf. His party had won six of those seats last time - then partner BJP had won the seventh. In last year's national election, Nalanda was one of the two seats that the JD(U) could win in Bihar.
The Bihar elections are crucial for the BJP which needs numbers in the Rajya Sabha, where it is in a minority and unable to push key reforms.
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