New Delhi: Bihar registered an estimated voter turnout of record 67.14 per cent by 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the second and final phase of the Assembly elections. This round has not only recorded the highest-ever turnout achieved in the state in any Assembly or Lok Sabha elections, but the final number after the completion of the entire process will further spike the total percentage.
The first phase witnessed the highest-ever percentage of electors in any Assembly polling, 2.09 per cent more than the earlier high of 62.57 per cent achieved in 2020. However, it could not touch the numbers in the 1998 Lok Sabha election when 64.6 per cent of the state's total electors had cast their votes. At least four districts recorded a turnout of over 70 per cent, with electors coming out in large numbers in Kishanganj (76.26 per cent), Katihar (75.23 pe cent), Purnea (73.79 per cent), and Supaul (70.69 per cent) till 5 p.m. Altogether, the number of seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly is 243, of which elections have already been held in 121 constituencies on November 6. Counting of votes will take place on November 14.
The second phase covered 122 seats across 20 districts, with 1,302 candidates contesting.
Nearly 3.7 crore voters were eligible to vote, with over 45,399 polling stations set up for this round of polls.
Security was extremely tight, with over four lakh personnel deployed, including paramilitary forces and bomb disposal squads, to ensure smooth polling. The process was held with scrutiny to details following Monday's blast in Delhi.