Voting for Bihar Election Ends With 55.22% Turnourt in Final Phase

The voting for Bihar elections ended with 55.22% votes polled in the third phase of polling on Saturday, 7 November, the Election Commission (EC) said. The same phase has seen a turnout of 56.66% in the 2015 elections

Voting took place in 78 seats, spread across 16 districts, for the third and final phase on Saturday, 7 November. Bihar recorded 54% voter turnout till 5:00 pm.

The polling for the third phase was concentrated in north Bihar and the Seemanchal region.

The third phase also saw some violence at a few places with five rounds being fired at a polling booth in Dhamdaha in Purnea district, sources told Firstpost.

According to reports, firing incident was triggered after heated arguments between villagers and security forces over breaking queue lines. Three people have been held in connection with the incident.

While addressing an election rally in Bihar on Thursday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the ongoing state Assembly polls would be his last election.

At a rally in Bihar’s Purnia, while Kumar asked the crowd to vote for JD(U), he said, “This is the last day of the election, day after are the polls. This is my last election. Ant bhala to sab bhala (All’s well that ends well).”

Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav is leading the charge for the mahagathbandhan and has focused his campaign on the issues of unemployment and the economy.

The voting for the first and second phases was held on 28 October and 3 November, respectively. The results for the three-phased elections, held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will be declared on 10 November.