Patna, Mar 11: The bye-elections in Bihar are underway with polling being held for Araria Lok Sabha seat, and Jehanabad and Bhabhua assembly constituencies. Voting was scheduled to begin at 7 am and continue till 5 pm in the evening.

The bypoll results will be declared on March 14, when the Election Commission of India has scheduled the counting of votes. Out of the three seats, Araria and Jehanabad were held by the RJD, whereas, Bhabhua was won by the BJP in the 2015 assembly elections. Re-polling was necessitated following the death of the incumbent legislators last year.

How to Check Name in Voters' List Online

Visit the official website of Election Commission of India -- www.eci.nic.in. On the bottom right hand side of the page, one could find 'Name Search in Voters List’. Clicking on it will take the user to the next page, where the list of states would be visible.

After clicking on Bihar, the user would be a directed to another page, where he/she would be asked to enter his name, surname, constituency and district. Apart from the above mandatory fields, the user would also be asked to provide his voter ID. However, the field could be skipped as vast number of voters have not been issued voter ID cards yet. However, their name continues to appear in the electoral list.

Candidates in Fray

From Araria, deceased RJD MP Mohammad Taslimuddin's son Sarfaraz Alam is contesting on the RJD ticket. Alam, a JD(U) MLA from Jokihat assembly seat, defected after the bypolls were announced. He is in direct contest against BJP's Pradip Sinha, who emerged as the first runner-up from the seat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

In Jehanabad, the primary poll battle is between RJD's Sujay Yadav  and JD(U)'s Abhiram Sharma. The seat was earlier held by Yadav's father Mundrika Singh Yadav, who passed away last year following prolonged illness.

Bhabhua was represented by BJP MLA Anand Bhushan Pandey who died last year. His wife Rinki Pandey is contesting on the BJP ticket. The Mahagathbandhan has assigned the seat to the Congress, which has fielded Shambhu Patel.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 11, 2018 09:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).