In a bid to extend turnout, the Election Fee Wednesday prolonged polling hours in elements of 4 Parliamentary constituencies of Bihar by two hours.
Polling in a piece of polling stations in Banka on Friday, Madhepura and Khagaria on Could 7 and Munger on Could 13 was prolonged from 7am to 4pm to 7am to 6pm, in keeping with a gazette notification.
The EC’s transfer comes after the turnout in the first phase of polling on April 19, including in four seats of Bihar, was lower than the turnout in the identical seats in 2019. “…Having thought of the request of Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar, to extend hours of ballot in these parliamentary constituencies in view of prevailing warmth wave and session held with the political events… to extend voters’ participation, the ECI has determined to alter the hours of ballot in respect of parliamentary constituencies of Bihar specifically Banka, Madhepura, Khagaria and Munger,” the notification learn.
The extra two hours of polling will apply to 172 polling stations in Katoria Meeting constituency and 191 polling stations of Belhar Meeting phase of Banka; 207 polling stations in Mahishi Meeting constituency of Madhepura seat; 299 polling stations of Simri Bakhtiarpur and all polling stations of Alauli and Beldaur Meeting constituencies of Khagaria seat; and 230 polling stations of Suryagarha Meeting constituency of Munger.