Bihar Assembly Elections: In a significant political update, Bihar has recorded 64.46% voters turnout in the first phase (provisional). Bihar Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Singh Gunjiyal has said that Bihar has witnessed a massive turnout across 45,341 polling booths, recording a total of 3,75,00,000 voters, 1,98,00,000 males, and 1,76,00,000 females.
“The first phase of voting concluded successfully today, there were 45,341 polling booths… Out of these booths, at some places voting is still going on, data is being updated at some places by presiding officers, the data of 41,943 booths have been updated, according to it, the voting percentage is 64.46 pc, the final press note will be released in an hour, you will get the final figure then. There were a total of 3,75,00,000 voters, 1,98,00,000 males, and 1,76,00,000 females. Women voted in large numbers…” Bihar Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Singh Gunjiyal to PTI
Stakes are high for both the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc in the first phase of the assembly elections, with several key leaders, including RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and several ministers, in the fray.
As per a PTI report, the ruling NDA led by JDU and BJP, which has been in power in the state for 20 years, except for a few brief interruptions, is banking on its image of “sushasan” (good governance) in contrast to the alleged “jungle raj” that marked the 15 years old rule of the RJD-Congress combine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed rallies in a couple of constituencies going to polls in the second and final phase, felt that the noticeably high number of women turning up to vote was a good sign for the NDA.
“Mothers, daughters and sisters have been the worst sufferers of ‘jungle raj’. Today, they seem to have put up a fortress around polling booths to prevent the return of ‘jungle raj'”, Modi had remarked.
(With inputs from agencies)
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