PATNA, Oct. 24 -- Elections to eight Bihar Legislative Council seats on Friday recorded 43.87 per cent polling in four graduates' constituencies and 74.55 per cent in as many teachers' seats as the voting concluded, the Election Commission officials said. Counting of votes will be held on October 27. The data presented by the office of the chief electoral officer was up to 4pm, the closing time of polling. Among the graduates' seats, Kosi recorded the highest of over 52.51% and Patna the lowest at around 36.19%. Darbhanga and Tirhut recorded around 42% voting till 4pm. Some more additions could be made later due to the people in queue till the 4pm deadline. Among the teachers' seats, the voting percentage was higher at 74.55%, with Saran recording the highest percentage of over 87% till 4pm. Patna recorded the lowest turnout at 56.89%, while Darbhanga and Tirhut recorded over 79% and 78% respectively. Some alterations in the final figures may be made after final counting figures. The combined electorate stands at 5,32,847, including 1,46,611 women and 37 third-gender voters, across 933 polling stations. There are 150 candidates in the fray. The EC officials said that the polling remained largely peaceful. However, the elections have their share of issues. This time, it's a multi-corner contest with infighting in certain parties and because of the entry of Jan Suraaj Party. Then, there has been allegations about the use of money and existence of bogus voters. In fact, there has been a history of bogus voters in Council elections. It was raised in 1996 also, when five-term MLC late PN Sharma had lost and he made accusations of bogus voters and similar institutions. This time, bogus voters enrolled with non-existent institutions or with institutions that have denied their working also surfaced and many candidates have threatened to raise the issue. The stakes are very high for the Patna graduates' seat, where Mokama JD(U) MLA Anant singh is backing Jan Suraaj Party candidate Anuj Singh against his own party MLC Neeraj Kumar despite attempts to bring truce between the two. This has also brought to fore the factionalism within the party. Anant Singh didn't budge even after mediation effort of party's senior leader and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh. Supporters of the MLA clashed with those of Neeraj Kumar in Mokama, prompting police to detain several people. The Mokama MLA's close aide Chhotu Singh was detained by police in the state capital for "allegedly disrupting peace and order". From Patna teachers' seat, RJD candidate Sanjeev Kumar alleged that the police had reached his house past midnight to create undue pressure on him. His wife also came out during polling, alleging attempts to browbeat his husband's supporters. Sporadic clashes were also reported from Muzaffarpur. There was also a case of model code violation lodged against sitting MLC Afaq Ahmad who is again contesting on Jan Suraaj ticket from Saran teachers' seat. For the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the elections are crucial as it would be an opportunity to redeem the prestige after losing the BJP bastion of Bankipore in the assembly bypoll necessitated by the elevation of party's national president Nitin Nabin to the Rajya Sabha. Both the BJP and JD(U( are contesting four seats each from the NDA. The alliance hopes to cash in on the fissures in the opposition camp, with the RJD, Congress and Left candidates being face to face on several seats, and division of votes due to the presence of Jan Suraaj candidates on all seats and also some rebels being in the contest. The terms of the eight members of the graduates' and teachers' constituencies are due to expire on November 16. The graduates' seats going to polls are Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Kosi, while teachers' constituencies are Patna, Tirhut, Darbhanga and Saran. Of the eight seats. independents at present hold three seats, BJP two, while one seat each is with the JD(U), Congress and the CPI. Meanwhile, RJD's working president and leader of opposition in Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, accused the ruling coalition of "misusing the administration" to enable "vote theft"....