The Bankipur Assembly bypoll in Bihar witnessed a low turnout of over 34% on Thursday, in a contest that marked Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor's electoral debut in the BJP stronghold.
The electoral fate of 26 candidates, including the BJP's Neeraj Kumar Sinha and Rekha Gupta of the RJD, will be decided on August 3.
According to the EC, the voter turnout stood at only 34.24 per cent, a drop of more than seven per cent compared with 41.45 per cent in the assembly polls of November last year.
The tepid voter participation flew in the face of political heat on the polling day, generated by trading of charges between Kishor and the BJP which seeks to retain the seat vacated by its national president Nitin Nabin.
Earlier in the day, Kishor alleged that the police had wrongfully picked up his supporters at the behest of the ruling party, and the BJP charged the former poll strategist with having brought in "fake voters".
The Jan Suraaj Party founder who stormed a police station in Patna late Wednesday evening, staying put till the early hours of Thursday, accused the police of acting as an "extension of a political party" and "trying to help the BJP" by detaining his party workers and "obstructing its voters".
"More than 16 Jan Suraaj workers were detained by the police between Wednesday evening and night. They were kept at different police stations without specifying any reason, and then shifted to Danapur police station before being taken to the Shahpur PS," he said.
Mritunjay Tiwari, who was recently inducted into the BJP after resigning from the RJD, alleged that Jan Suraaj workers were trying to bring fake voters to Bankipur.
"The BJP has requested EC officials to verify and inspect voter identities, so that people can exercise their democratic right to vote freely, fairly, and transparently," he said.
Tiwari claimed that Jan Suraaj's strategy of using "fake voters" would not work, and Kishor's "security deposits will be forfeited".
Talking to reporters outside a polling booth near Patna's Gol Ghar where Kishor and his party colleagues had a heated exchange with City SP (Central) Mamta Kalyani, the Jan Suraaj founder alleged that his polling agents were being detained by the police.
Kalyani repudiated the allegations, saying, "Everyone has the right to vote. No one is being obstructed. We are making a continuous appeal that everyone should come and vote, but not form groups because that violates election protocols."
Union Minister Lalan Singh, who came to Bihar to cast his vote, also dismissed Kishor's allegations.
"In a democracy, everyone is free to act upon their will, and there is a rule of law in Bihar. Why would anyone unnecessarily detain the workers of any party? Prashant Kishor must speak based on facts," Singh said.
BJP and Jan Suraaj workers engaged in a mild altercation in the Shrikrishnapuri area within the assembly segment, but were pacified by the police.
Other prominent politicians who voted in the assembly segment that covers a major part of the state capital include local BJP MP Ravishankar Prasad, senior party leader CP Thakur, his son and Nawada MP Vivek Thakur, and state ministers Ramkripal Yadav (BJP) and Ashok Choudhary (JDU).
JD(U) president and former chief minister Nitish Kumar's elder sister Usha Devi and Neeraj Kumar Sinha, the BJP candidate, also voted.
Speaking with reporters, Sinha said, "I am not accustomed to talking about frivolous things. I will just focus on the development of Bankipur. A lot of development work has already taken place under the NDA rule here."
In a post on X, Nabin, who gave up the seat in April upon election to the Rajya Sabha, barely six months after having won it for a fifth consecutive term, had urged voters to come out in large numbers and "strengthen the resolve for a developed India".
Ravishankar Prasad, who voted at Patna Women's College along with his wife and son, exuded confidence that the BJP would register a decisive victory in the by-election.
"I have been voting in this constituency for the last 20 years. People here share a long-standing association with the BJP due to the development works carried out by the NDA governments led by Nitish Kumar and Samrat Choudhary," Prasad said.
Describing the contest as "one-sided", Ramkripal Yadav said that the BJP's candidate was poised for a victory and claimed that Kishor will emerge as a "distant third in the election because people will not vote for an outsider billionaire".
According to a statement issued by the Patna SSP office, several individuals were taken into preventive custody because they, being non-resident campaigners of Bankipur, had not left the constituency during the 48-hour silence period, as mandated under ECI's directives.
The police, however, did not disclose the identity of the detainees, nor did they specify if they were Jan Suraaj campaigners.
Kishor claimed that around 10 of the detained Jan Suraaj workers were from Patna district and not outsiders.
He also met the family members of one of his supporters near Mandiri Nala in Bankipur, who was allegedly "taken away by police around 2 am on Thursday".
According to a statement issued by the Patna DM, eight super zonal magistrates, 16 zonal magistrates and 42 sector magistrates were deployed to ensure free, fair and peaceful voting.
Additional forces were stationed in sensitive areas, and officials were directed to verify suspicious voter identity cards by scanning QR codes through the Election Commission app and register FIRs in cases of fake IDs, it added.
Although Kishor has emerged as the principal challenger to the BJP, which has never lost the seat since 1995 when it was known as Patna West, altogether 26 candidates are in the fray.
RJD nominee Rekha Gupta, who had lost to Nabin last year by over 50,000 votes, expressed confidence that she will emerge victorious in the election with the "support of people" who are "determined for change".
She alleged that polling booth agents wearing the BJP's identity cards are trying to influence voters, and discarded Prashant Kishor as a mere social media phenomenon.
(With inputs from PTI)