E-Paper
57.91% turnout in last phase of Bihar assembly polls
The voter turnout was, however, 2.6 percentage points lower than the 60.51% recorded in the last assembly elections in 2015
Bihar recorded a provisional voter turnout of 57.91%, the highest in the three-phase assembly polls, as women turned out in large numbers for polling on 78 seats across 15 districts in the final phase on Saturday.
The voting was largely peaceful barring an incident of security personnel opening fire to control an unruly mob in Purnia.
The voter turnout was, however, 2.6 percentage points lower than the 60.51% recorded in the last assembly elections in 2015. The first phase of polling on October 28 saw a voter turnout of 55.68% while 55.70% of the electorate voted in the second phase of the election on November 3.
The results will be declared on November 10.
Security personnel fired five rounds in the air after some voters had a scuffle with them over queuing up and maintaining social distancing at booth number 282 at Dhamdaha in Purnia.
For the same reason, voters also entered into an altercation with security men at two polling booths in Sikti assembly constituency of Purnia, hampering the voting process temporarily.
“Maintaining social distancing with Covid safety measures in Bihar, which has the highest population density, was a challenge,” said Bihar’s chief electoral officer HR Srinivasa during a post-poll presser on Saturday.
Additional director-general of police Jitendra Kumar, who was also present at the joint press conference, said, “Security personnel had to fire in the air to disperse an unruly mob, which refused to queue up at a booth in Dhamdaha. However, no one was injured in the incident, and voting was resumed soon.”
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Kishanganj, which has a sizeable Muslim population, recorded the highest provisional voter turnout of 62.55%, according to data shared by the chief electoral officer, Bihar. Katihar recorded 61.57%, Supaul 61.19%, Saharsa 60.20%, Purnia 59.25%, Madhepura 59%, Samastipur 58.15%, Muzaffarpur 57.57%, East Champaran 57.16%, Madhubani 56.36%, West Champaran 56.02%, Sitamarhi 55.84%, Darbhanga 54.91%, Araria 54.58%. Vaishali had the lowest voter turnout at 52.68%.
The Valmikinagar parliamentary constituency bye-election recorded a voting percentage of 56.02%.
Repoll at booths 52, 52(A), and 55 under 175-Hilsa assembly constituency of Nalanda district, which went to polls in the second phase on November 3, recorded 55.09% voter turnout.
A case was lodged against Sarfaraz Alam, RJD candidate from Araria for violation of the model code of conduct when he wore a kurta with a party sticker on it to exercise his franchise at booth number 110 under Jokihat assembly constituency.
The police made 49 preventive arrests during the third phase polls, said additional director general of police Jitendra Kumar. As many as 439 illegal firearms were also seized in the final phase, he added.
Neeraj Jha, an independent candidate from Benipatti in Madhubani district who contracted the Covid-19 infection, died at the AIIMS-Patna on Saturday. He was admitted to the hospital 10 days back and undergoing treatment. He was earlier with the JD(U), but was in the poll fray as an independent, after being denied a party ticket.
Earlier, Srinivasa complimented 5.5 lakh polling officials and 1.80 security personnel for the safe and smooth conduct of Bihar assembly elections, the biggest polling exercise in times of the coronavirus pandemic.
He said unprecedented rains, resulting in floods, leading to connectivity issues, besides Covid, posed major challenges for the polling personnel.
“This was not a normal election and we did unprecedented work in the last six months,” he said.
Srinivasa said that 18 lakh voters were enrolled after the final rolls on February 7 that was a record of sorts. He said 2.5 lakh eligible migrant workers, out of the total 28-30 lakh who returned to the state during the pandemic, were enrolled in the voter list despite officials being engaged in flood relief work, migrant camps and tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Polling personnel had to be trained as per the new guidelines. We also distributed gloves, masks, face shields and sanitisers among our polling personnel as part of Covid precautions,” he added.
The fate of 12 ministers in the Nitish Kumar cabinet was sealed among 1,208 candidates in the third and final phase polls, which had 2,35,54,071 registered voters.
Five years ago, the opposition Grand Alliance with JD(U), RJD and Congress as its constituents, won 54 of the 78 seats that voted in the third phase.
