The first phase of the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections concluded peacefully on Thursday, marking a historic voter turnout of 64.66%, the highest ever recorded in the state’s electoral history.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi, closely monitored polling activities through 100% live webcasting, implemented for the first time across all polling stations in Bihar.
Polling was conducted across 121 Assembly Constituencies in 18 districts, covering an electorate of over 3.75 crore voters. The CEC also interacted with presiding officers and district election officials from the control room to ensure smooth conduct of the elections.
In a notable first, 16 international delegates from six countries — South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Belgium, and Colombia — observed the polling process as part of the International Election Visitors’ Programme (IEVP). The delegates praised the Election Commission of India (ECI) for conducting one of the world’s most transparent, efficient, and participatory elections.
Over 4 lakh polling personnel reached their respective polling stations by late Wednesday night, and mock polls were completed before 7 AM on Thursday in the presence of more than 67,900 polling agents representing 1,314 contesting candidates.
The ECI introduced several voter-friendly initiatives to enhance the polling experience, including the addition of coloured candidate photos on EVM ballot papers, mobile deposit facilities, redesigned voter information slips for better readability, and limiting voter strength to 1,200 per polling station to reduce crowding.
Special provisions were made for persons with disabilities (PwD), with wheelchairs available at all polling stations, volunteers assigned for assistance, and e-rickshaw services provided to facilitate their transport. More than 90,000 Jeevika Didis and female volunteers were deployed to assist purdah-nasheen women voters.
Presiding officers uploaded the turnout data directly from polling stations, ensuring faster updates on the ECINet app, where district-wise and constituency-wise figures are now available.
ECI aid that voter turnout figures were as of 8:15 PM, with updates from 1,570 presiding officers still awaited.