Bihar elections 2020: 55.69 per cent voter turnout recorded in phase 1 slightly higher than 2015

Patna, Oct 29: Over 55.69% per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first phase of Bihar assembly elections yesterday, the Election Commission said in its provisional data.

A total of 71 assembly segments of the state's 243 constituencies are voting in the first phase in which nearly 2.15 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of over 1,000 candidates.

The 71 constituencies are spread across 16 districts.

This is the first major election being conducted amid the raging coronavirus pandemic in the country. However, the turnout figure in the first phase is slightly higher than the 54.75% seen in 2015 in the same districts, the election commission said.

Polling was conducted till 3 p.m. in four Naxal-affected constituencies of Chainpur, Nabinagar, Kutumba and Rafiganj while in the other five Naxal-hit constituencies it went up to 5 p.m. In the remaining 26 Naxal-affected constituencies, polling was held till 4 p.m.

Of the nearly 2.15 crore voters eligible to exercise their franchise, 1.12 crore are male, 1.01 crore are female and 599 are categorised as "third gender", according to data provided by the Election Commission.

Over 31,000 polling stations were set up for the first phase and as many Electronic Voting Machines and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines were be used.