Highest voter turnout in Bihar since 1951, highest women voter turnout recorded
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Take your experience further with Premium access. Thought-provoking Opinions, Expert Analysis, In-depth Insights and other Member Only BenefitsThe Bihar assembly elections concluded on Tuesday with the Election Commission reporting the highest ever voter turnout of 66.91% in the state since 1951.
While the turnout among male voters at the end of two-phase polling, today was 62.8%, the turnout among female voters was far more at 71.6%.
The election commission said this is the highest ever percentage for women voters in Bihar.
The previous highest voter turnout in Bihar assembly elections was recorded for males at 70.71% in 2000 and for females at 60.48% in 2015.
Voter turnout in Punjab was 60.95% with 1, 92, 838 electors exercising their franchise. In Punjab, the voter turnout was 60.80 % among males and 61.12% among females.
The election commission said that chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, monitored the conduct of elections across 45,399 polling stations in phase two of the Bihar elections.
Over the two-phase election in Bihar, 85,00,000 polling-related staff, over 1.4,00,000 polling agents appointed by 2,616 contestant candidates, 243 general observers, 38 police observers and 67 expenditure observers were part of the election machinery, conducting and observing the elections.
For the first time, 16 delegates from six countries, namely South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Belgium and Columbia, visited and witnessed the poll proceedings as part of the international election visitors’ programme this year.
The election commission conducted the Bihar assembly elections under the shadow of the Congress alleging vote theft in the state.
At the heart of the controversy was the special intensive revision of electoral roles, which the election commission conducted in Bihar on the eve of the assembly elections.
The electoral roll revision has now been rolled out across the country.
Monday's exit polls have predicted a clear edge to the ruling BJP-JDU-led NDA in Bihar.
Results will be out on November 14.