Patna, Oct 28 (IANS): Polling was underway on Wednesday for the first phase of Assembly polls in Bihar amid tight security while following Covid-19 norms put in place.

The polling began at 7 a.m. for the 71 Assembly constituencies in 16 districts.

According to the State Election Commission, 2.14 crore voters will exercise their franchise in the first phase for which 31,371 polling stations have been set up. In the first phase, 1,066 candidates, including 114 women are in the fray.

While in the non-sensitive constituencies voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., in the sensitive ones, the polling exercise will end at 3 p.m.; while in some other areas it will last till 4 p.m. Security forces have been deployed at all polling stations.

Elections are to be held in three phases for the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar. The second phase of voting for 94 seats will be on November 3 and for the third phase of 78 seats will be on November 7. Counting will take place on November 10.