In Bihar, polling is progressing smoothly for by-elections to Purnea assembly seat amid tight security. Voting, which started at 8 am, will continue till 5 pm. Our Patna correspondent reports that seven candidates including Kiran Keshari of BJP, Ram Charitra Yadav of Congress and Amit Sarkar of CPM are in the fray. The Counting of votes will take place on the 29th of this month. The by-election was necessitated following the murder of BJP MLA Raj Kishore Keshari.