Bihar records highest-ever turnout in Phase-1: CEO (Lead)

Patna, Nov 6 (IANS) The first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections concluded peacefully on Thursday with a record voter turnout of 64.66 per cent, the highest in the electoral history of the state, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinod Singh Gunjiyal said.

A total of 121 Assembly constituencies across 18 districts went to polls, with 3,75,13,302 electors, including 1,98,35,325 male, 1,76,77,219 female and 758 third-gender voters.

A total of 45,341 polling stations have been set up across the state, including 36,733 in rural areas and 8608 in urban areas.

Additional Director General (Law and Order) and State Police Nodal Officer Kundan Krishnan said polling was largely incident-free, barring two minor episodes.

In one case, villagers in Halsi block of Lakhisarai district allegedly hurled mud at the convoy of Vijay Kumar Sinha, the Deputy Chief Minister, who is also a BJP candidate.

In another incident, unidentified persons smashed the window of a CPI(M) MLA’s vehicle in Daudnagar village in Saran district. Both incidents were covered by local media.

Krishnan said that since the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, authorities have seized 850 firearms and more than 4,000 cartridges.

He said the deployment of 500 companies of Central Armed Police Forces, along with the Bihar Police, and increased night patrolling contributed significantly to the peaceful atmosphere.

More than four lakh polling personnel reached their respective stations by 11:20 pm on Wednesday night.

Mock polls were completed before 7 am on Thursday in the presence of 67,902 polling agents representing 1,314 candidates, (including 1192 male and 122 female candidates), are in the fray, and polling began simultaneously at all 45,341 booths.

Over 90,000 Jeevika Didis, along with CAPF personnel, were stationed across polling stations to assist in the identification of burqa-clad women voters.

Presiding Officers updated voter turnout figures at the close of polling before leaving the booths, as per the Election Commission of India’s latest instructions, which officials said helped minimise delay in uploading approximate turnout trends.

As of 8.15 pm, 1,070 Presiding Officers were yet to upload data on ECINet.

Officials said several voter-friendly measures were rolled out in this phase.

Coloured photographs of candidates on EVM ballot papers, mobile-deposit counters at polling stations, redesigned voter information slips for easier reading, and capping of electors at about 1,200 per booth to reduce crowding were among the key changes.

All polling stations were supplied with wheelchairs, with volunteers tagged to assist Persons with Disabilities.

E-rickshaws were also used to transport PwD electors to booths.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, monitored polling through live webcasting — enabled in 100 per cent booths for the first time in Bihar.

The CEC also interacted directly with the Presiding Officers and district election officers from the ECI control room.

Officials said that, also for the first time, Bihar hosted an International Election Visitors’ Program.

Sixteen delegates from South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Belgium and Colombia observed the process and described the arrangements as transparent, efficient and highly participative.

--IANS

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