Patna, Apr 11 (IANS): Voting was underway on Thursday for four of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the first of the seven-phased polling in the state.
About 70 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 44 candidates in the first round of polling.
According to officials of the state Election Commission here, more than 41,000 security personnel have been deployed in the Maoist affected Gaya, Aurangabad, Jamui and Nawada parliamentary constituencies.
Three helicopters have been requisitioned to provide air cover to security forces during polls.
"In the initial first one and a half hours of voting, people were seen standing before polling booths. It is a slow start but polling will pick up in next three hours," the officials said.
However, there are reports of problems in EVM machines at several booths in Gaya, Nawada and Jamui seats. So far, there were no reports of violence from the four constituencies.