It's a record: 65% turnout in first phase of Bihar polls

PATNA/NEW DELHI: Bihar's electorate headlined Round 1 of the "vikas versus badlav" battle Thursday with the state's highest-ever voter turnout of 64.7% in 121 assembly constituencies of 18 districts, marking a decimal-point improvement over the previous record of 64.6% in the 1998 Lok Sabha election.

The assembly poll turnout closest to the new record is 62.6% in 2000.Reports of deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha's convoy and a CPM candidate's car being attacked were the only law-and-order blips as an estimated 2.4 crore out of 3.7 crore registered voters voted across 45,341 polling booths, 36,733 of these in the rural belt. A voter in Vaishali came on buffalo back, some rode horses, and a few reached their designated polling stations by boat."Democracy has won," chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar declared, congratulating electors on the record turnout and thanking them for their faith in the poll machinery. "Bihar has shown the way to the nation through SIR with zero appeals, the highest voter turnout since 1951, enthusiastic participation of electors, and a transparent and dedicated election machinery. It has been an amazing journey for ECI.

"The first phase had 1,314 candidates, 122 of them women, contesting what EC had earlier dubbed "the mother of all elections".Bihar's chief electoral officer Vinod Kumar Gunjiyal said there was no untoward incident linked to polling. He said the process was as transparent as an election could be, with live webcasting from stations.