Elections in Bhagalpur, Khagaria, Purnea and Rajmahal which were scheduled to be held on October 3, were postponed due to heavy rains and flooding which left large areas inaccessible.

Elections are also being held in the Dhubri LS constituency, Assam. The BJP candidate from Dhubri, Pannalal Oswal, was abducted and killed, leading to the postponement of the poll process and a fresh notification being issued.

Oswal's son, Bimal Oswal, of the BJP, is pitted against Abdul Hamid of the Congress.

Repolling is also being held in 178 booths in Outer Manipur, where repolls were ordered following the snatching of ballot boxes and other electoral irregularities when the elections were first held on October 3.

In Bihar, after the kind of violence that erupted in the earlier two phases of the polls,unprecedented security measures are being taken.

State director general of police K A Jacob said each polling booth would be guarded by the armed police force. Special measures had been taken to detect landmines in the extremist-affected areas.

Besides 24 companies of paramilitary forces, 50 companies of state police force and home guards have also been deployed in these constituencies.

While Rashtriya Janata Dal's candidate Nayana Rana is pitted against Janata Dal (United) candidate, the two primary contestants in Khagaria, presence of Communist Party of India candidate Satyanarain Singh makes the fight a triangular one.

In adjoining Purnea, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Jaikrishna Mandal, CPI candidate Khalil Ahmed and independent candidate and former MP Rajesh Ranjan better known as Pappu Yadav are locked in a three-pronged contest.

Bhagalpur constituency would witness a straight fight between CPI (M)'s Subodh Roy and BJP's Prabhash Chandra Tiwari.

Som Marandi of the BJP is facing Congressnominee Thomas Hansda in Rajmahal but Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Simon Marandi could play the spoiler.

In the trouble-torn, outer Manipur constituency, elaborate security arrangements have been made to counter the call by the extremist group for a poll boycott.

The Kohima-based apex body of the Naga people, known as the Naga Ho-ho has taken a decision to support the poll boycott call given by the NSCN(I-M).