The by-election to the Kalyanpur (SC) Assembly constituency in Samastipur district of Bihar was peaceful with a 50 per cent voter turnout on Sunday.
Of the total 1,31,988 voters, 68,634 males (26 per cent) and 63,354 females (24 per cent) cast their votes by 5 p.m. when polling ended. The Election department said they received no complaints of any untoward incident.
The contest in Kalyanpur was multi-pronged with the ruling Janata Dal (United) struggling to retain the seat. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of JD(U)’s Ramsevak Hazari.
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The JD(U), which is in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the State, fielded Manju Kumari against the united forces of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Jan Shakti Party. The RJD has given its backing to LJP candidate Rekha Paswan. Anita Ram of the Congress and Soni Kumar, an Independent, are the other two contestants.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan campaigned, raising the pitch of the contest.