Voting began at 7 am for the fifth and final phase of the Bihar Assembly elections on Thursday, with 57 seats up for grabs and 827 candidates in the fray. The constituencies include 24 along the Seemanchal region, which lies near the West Bengal border. Polling will finish at 5 pm, except for two seats in the Maoist-hit Saharsa district – Simri Bhakhtiyarpur and Mahisi – where it will end at 3 pm. Around 31.8% voting was recorded till 12 pm on Thursday.

More than 1.5 crore people are eligible to vote in the final phase, which will seal the fate of the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Grand Alliance comprising the Janata Dal (United),Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress. Prominent candidates include Bijendra PrasadYadav , a senior JD (U) functionary and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s close aide Bhola Yadav. In 2010, the BJP had won 23 out of these 57 seats, though the JD(U), which was partnering with the party then, had taken 20 of them.