Bihar sees highest voter turnout in 15 years

NEW DELHI/PATNA: Bihar clocked an overall 56.8% voter turnout in this election, the highest among assembly polls held in the state since 2000. Not only did it beat the 52.65% polling witnessed in the 2010 state poll as well as the 46.5% and 45.85% turnout at the February 2005 and October 2005 polls respectively, but it also surpassed the 55.38% polling recorded in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

A major contributory factor to the impressive polling percentages this time was the higher participation by women as compared to their male counterparts. The overall voting percentage for women was 59.92%, way higher than the 56.8% male voter turnout. In fact, women turnout was higher in each of the five phases of polling in Bihar, with Thursday’s round seeing 63.6% of women electors coming out to exercise their franchise.

A phase-wise analysis of the polling percentages puts the fifth and final phase on the top with a 60% turnout. The polling in this round, beat the 58.45% turnout recorded in the fourth phase, as also 53.74% voting in third phase, 55.45% in the second and 55.81% in the first phase.



During the last phase on Thursday, covering 57 assembly constituencies across the nine districts of Madhubani, Supaul, Araria, Kishanganj, Purnea, Katihar, Madhepura, Saharsa and Darbhanga, the highest voter participation was recorded by Katihar at 67.27%. On the other hand, Saharsa clocked the lowest turnout, both for this phase and for the entire poll, at 50.78%.

The high-turnout districts included, apart from Katihar, Kishanganj, Purnea, West Champaran, Araria and Muzaffarpur, all of which clocked polling in excess of 60%. Katihar, Kishanganj and Araria are part of the Seemanchal region, and have a significant concentration of Muslims.

The voting percentage was the lowest in Saharsa, Arwal, Bhojpur, Munger, Patna and Nalanda districts.

Expressing satisfaction at the conduct of the Bihar poll, deputy election commissioner Umesh Sinha on Thursday said the election went off well despite speculations about law and order, Naxal menace and communal situation.

According to Sinha, the overall cash seizures during the state polls amounted to over Rs 38 crore, which included Rs 19 crore seized by the Income-Tax department as part of a special operation against hawala operators in Delhi and Bihar.

“Over 2.6 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 3.5 crore was seized in the state,” he added.