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New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday highlighted a series of new initiatives and milestones achieved during the Bihar Assembly elections, described as one of the most efficient and transparent electoral exercises conducted in the state.
The commission said Bihar recorded the highest voter turnout since 1951 at 67.13 percent, including the highest ever participation of women at 71.78 percent.
Among the most notable results, the ECI reported zero appeals related to wrongful inclusion or exclusion of voters after Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in all 38 districts.
Similarly, there were zero repolls in the elections.
None of the 2,616 candidates or 12 recognized political parties sought re-election at any polling station.
The counting process involved 243 returning officers and 243 counting observers as well as 31,768 counting agents appointed by the contesting candidates.
ECI said that the entire process was completed in a smooth and transparent manner.
The ECI said, for the first time, index cards for all constituencies and eight by-election seats in Bihar were published within 72 hours of the declaration of results.
Previously, before the rollout of the ECINET digital platform, it often took weeks or even months to manually compile index cards.
Index cards provide constituency-level data on candidates, electors, votes polled and counted and party-wise/candidate-wise performance. They are now available on both ECINET App and ECI website.
The ECI said the mandatory VVPAT slip verification for five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency (total 1,215 stations) did not find any discrepancies with the EVM count.
The ECI said Bihar’s SIR exercise ensured a pure voter list, with no eligible voter left out and no ineligible voter retained, and in particular, no appeals were received after publication.
Remuneration for booth level officers (BLOs) was doubled, and allowances for BLO observers, polling and counting personnel, CAPFs, monitoring teams and micro-observers were increased.
The honorarium of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs was also increased for the first time.
According to the ECI, EPIC cards were distributed within 15 days of the roll update, and standardized photo ID cards were issued to all BLOs to improve field-level transparency.
It said that the BLOs of Bihar were trained for the first time at IIIDEM, Delhi.
Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of all political parties were also trained at IIIDEM on preparation of voter lists.
The ECI said special training sessions were conducted for Bihar Police to strengthen law and order preparedness.
It said the maximum voter limit per polling station was reduced to 1,200 to avoid crowding; Additional booths were set up in high-rise residential complexes.
Mobile deposit facilities were introduced for voters outside polling stations.
The serial number and part number are prominently displayed on voter information slips.
According to ECI, the new ECINET module enabled faster services for voters and polling staff.
Voter turnout data was updated in near real time by the Presiding Officers.
As per rules, candidate booths were allowed only at a distance of 100 meters from the polling stations.
Live monitoring of each polling station was ensured with 100% webcasting.
The EVMs had color photographs of all the candidates to improve readability.
The ECI said the mandatory VVPAT count was ordered in cases where the Form 17C data did not match the EVM records, or where the mock poll data was not cleared.
ECI directed that the second-final round of EVM/VVPAT counting should be done only after the counting of postal ballots.
–IANS
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