Bihar polls 2020: Around 2.35 cr people set to vote tomorrow; combined voter turnout in Phase 1, 2 was 53.79%

Around 2.35 crore people are set to cast their vote in the third phase of the Bihar Assembly election tomorrow (7 November). So far, the first two phases of the election held on 28 October and 3 November saw a voter turnout of 55.69 percent and 53.51 percent, respectively.

Seventy-eight Assembly constituencies are set to go to polls on Saturday.

The combined voter turnout in the two phases was recorded at 53.79 percent on 3 November, the Commission said. The turnout was 55.35 percent in these constituencies in the 2015 Assembly polls, the EC added.

"The electoral exercise going on in the country is by far the largest exercise in the world amid the pandemic... the voter turnout in the first phase has been exceptionally good. The voter turnout has further continued and the confidence level has been much more in this phase," EC Secretary General Umesh Sinha said, announcing the phase two turnout figures.

RJD leader and grand alliance's chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav was among over 1,450 candidates in the fray in the second phase of the election.

Polling began at 7 am, but the time for its conclusion was extended by one hour till 6 pm to facilitate COVID-19 patients and those with symptoms of the disease to exercise their franchise during the final hour. The process, however, concluded early in the Maoist-hit areas.

Fifty-four Assembly bypolls spread across 10 states were also held on 3 November, which was the second phase of the Assembly election.

In the bypolls, Chhattisgarh recorded 71.99 percent turnout, Gujarat 57.98 percent, Haryana 68 percent, and Jharkhand 62.51 percent. The turnout in Odisha was 68.08 percent and 66.57 percent in Madhya Pradesh. In Nagaland, the turnout was 83.69 percent, while it was 81.44 percent in Telangana. In Uttar Pradesh, the turnout was 51.57 percent.

The Commission had said the figures "were dynamic in nature".

Besides 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh, eight Assembly seats went for bypolls in Gujarat, followed by seven in Uttar Pradesh, two each in Odisha, Nagaland, Karnataka and Jharkhand, and one each in Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Haryana. Five Assembly seats in Manipur and one Lok Sabha seat in Bihar will go for bypoll on Saturday.

In the second phase of the Bihar Assembly polls, 6,240 ballot units were deployed out of which 0.36 percent had to be replaced. Out of the 41,362 control units, 0.37 percent were replaced. Similarly, out of the 41,362 paper trail machines, 1.31 percent were replaced.

One control unit and at least one ballot units make for one EVM.

In the 54 Assembly bypolls, a total of 23,250 ballot units, 19,583 control units, and as many paper trail machines were deployed. Out of these 0.4 percent control units, 0.37 percent ballot units and 1.80 percent paper trail machines had to be replaced, Jain said.

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FP Staff