Campaigning came to an end on Tuesday for four of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar going to polls in the first of seven-phase polls in the state on April 11.
Polling in this phase will be held in Gaya, Nawada, Jamui and Aurangabad parliamentary constituencies. All of them fall in Maoist-affected areas.
About 70 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 44 candidates in the first round of polling on Thursday.
The main electoral planks on which all parties are seeking votes include economic development, job quotas and battle against corruption. The BJP also highlighted action against terror from Pakistan.
Prominent candidates in the fray in this phase are HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi from Gaya seat and LJP candidate Chirag Paswan, son of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, from Jamui seat.
The para military forces have been deployed to ensure security at all polling booths and drones will be used for the first time for surveillance, officials said.
The phase I polls will be held in 91 Lok Sabha or parliamentary constituencies in 20 states in the country.
Apart from Bihar (4) other states that are going to the poll in the phase I of Lok Sabha election are: Andhra Pradesh (25 parliamentary constituencies), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Assam (5), Chhattisgarh (1), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Maharashtra (7), Manipur (1), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Odisha (4), Sikkim (1), Telangana (17), Tripura (1), Uttar Pradesh (8), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (2), Andaman (1) and Lakshadweep (1) .
The results of the Lok Sabha election 2019 will be announced on May 23. The 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be held in a seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The seven phases will cover 543 constituencies.
