Lok Sabha Polls: Prime Minister Narendra Modi served langar at Gurdwara Patna Sahib in Bihar's Patna on Monday. This comes amid the fourth phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections. Voting for the five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar to decide the fate of 55 candidates began at 7 am in Begusarai, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Munger and Darbhanga and will continue till 6 pm.
In the video shared by news agency ANI, PM Modi can be seen in a saffron turban serving langar. He is wearing a saffron turban.
Urging people to vote in large numbers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said it is everyone's duty to strengthen India's democracy.
With assembly polls also being held in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha alongside the Lok Sabha elections across the country, Modi appealed to voters to turn up at polling booths in record numbers. In the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, 96 seats across 10 states and Union Territories are going to the polls, he noted.
The Prime Minister said on X, "I am sure people in these constituencies will vote in large numbers and the young voters as well as women voters will power this surge in voting. Come, let's all do our duty and strengthen our democracy!" He added in another post, "Urging the people of Andhra Pradesh, especially first time voters, to vote in record numbers in the Assembly Elections. May these polls further enhance our democratic spirit."
He told Odisha voters, "Your vote is your voice' let it be heard loudly and clearly." While the three phases of the polls have so far seen less turnout in percentage terms than in 2019, the gap with the previous elections has steadily narrowed amid efforts by the Election Commission to boost polling.
Lok Sabha Phase 4: Voting In Bihar
Over 11.61 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise in Darbhanga Lok Sabha constituency, 11.11 per cent in Samastipur, 10.26 per cent in Munger, 9.31 per cent in Ujiarpur and 8.85 per cent in Begusarai till 9 am. Approximately 95.85 lakh electors are eligible to exercise their franchise across 5,398 polling stations, the official said.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh is seeking re-election from Begusarai where his primary opponent is CPI's Awadhesh Rai. Singh had defeated former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in the same seat.
In Ujiarpur, which has the lowest number of voters at 17.48 lakh but hosts the maximum of 13 candidates, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai aims for a third consecutive term. His principal rival is Alok Mehta, a senior RJD leader and former state minister.
Samastipur, formerly known as Rosera, presents a battleground for two debutants - Congress' Sunny Hazari and Shambhavi Choudhary of LJP (Ram Vilas) - both offspring of senior JD(U) leaders and ministers in the Nitish Kumar cabinet. Sunny is the son of Maheshwar Hazari who had won the seat on a JD(U) ticket in 2009, while Shambhavi is the daughter of Ashok Choudhary, a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet.