Top News

New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Monday, highlighted a series of new initiatives and milestones achieved during the Bihar Assembly elections, marking what it described as one of the most efficient and transparent electoral exercises conducted in the state.

The Commission said Bihar recorded its highest-ever voter turnout since 1951, with 67.13 per cent polling, including the highest-ever participation by women at 71.78 per cent.

Among the most notable outcomes, the ECI reported zero appeals related to wrongful inclusion or exclusion of voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across all 38 districts.

Similarly, the elections saw zero re-polls.

None of the 2,616 candidates or the 12 recognised political parties sought re-election at any polling station.

The counting process involved 243 Returning Officers and 243 counting observers, along with 31,768 counting agents appointed by contesting candidates.

The ECI said the entire process was completed smoothly and transparently.

For the first time, the ECI said, Index Cards for all Bihar constituencies and eight bypoll seats were published within 72 hours of the declaration of results.

Previously, before the rollout of the ECINET digital platform, Index Cards often took weeks or even months to compile manually.

The Index Cards provide constituency-level data on candidates, electors, votes polled and counted, and party-wise/candidate-wise performance. They are now available on both the ECINET app and the ECI website.

The ECI said mandatory VVPAT slip verification for five randomly selected polling stations per Assembly constituency (1,215 stations in total) found no discrepancies with EVM counts.

The ECI said that Bihar's SIR exercise ensured a purified electoral roll with no eligible voter left out and no ineligible voter retained, and notably, no appeals received after publication.

Remuneration for Booth Level Officers (BLOs) was doubled, and allowances for BLO Supervisors, polling and counting personnel, CAPF, monitoring teams, and micro-observers were enhanced.

Honourariums for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs were also increased for the first time.

According to the ECI, EPIC cards were delivered within 15 days of roll updates, and standardised photo ID cards were issued to all BLOs to improve field-level transparency.

It said BLOs from Bihar were trained at IIIDEM, Delhi, for the first time.

Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of all political parties were also trained at IIIDEM on electoral roll preparation.

Special training sessions were conducted for the Bihar Police to strengthen law-and-order preparedness, the ECI said.

It added that the maximum voter cap per polling station was reduced to 1,200 to avoid crowding; additional booths were set up in high-rise residential complexes.

Mobile deposit facilities were introduced for voters outside polling stations.

Voter Information Slips carried prominently displayed serial and part numbers.

According to the ECI, new ECINET modules enabled faster services for voters and polling staff.

Voter turnout figures were updated in near real time by Presiding Officers.

Candidate booths were permitted just beyond 100 metres of polling stations as per the rules.

Hundred per cent webcasting ensured live monitoring of every polling station.

EVMs carried colour photographs of all candidates to improve readability.

The ECI said mandatory VVPAT counting was ordered in cases where Form 17C data did not match EVM records, or where mock poll data had not been cleared.

The ECI instructed that the second-last round of EVM/VVPAT counting be taken up only after the counting of postal ballots.

--IANS

skp/khz