Apart from recording the highest ever voter turnout, the first phase of Bihar assembly election was also among the most peaceful. The voting went so smoothly that the Election Commission has decided that no repolling required in any booth in the 121 constituencies which went to polls.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced that no re-polls have been recommended in any polling station following the post-poll scrutiny of documents collected from all polling stations. “After scrutiny, no discrepancy/malpractice was found at any of the Polling Station and no re-poll was recommended in Phase-I of the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections,” the ECI said. The scrutiny, aimed at ensuring transparency and detecting any malpractices, was conducted across 121 Assembly Constituencies that went to polls in Phase-I.
In a press release issued by today, the ECI said that it had issued consolidated instructions on the post-poll scrutiny of Form 17A (Register of Voters) and other poll-day documents. This form and other documents used to report detect even subtle malpractices at polling stations and recommend repolls, if required. The ECI said that all candidates were informed in advance about the date, time and venue of scrutiny of these documents.
Notably, Form 17A is the register of voters who voted in a particular polling booth. It records the details of all the voters who visited the booth for voting in serial order. The form records the Serial number of the voter in the voter list, nature of identification document presented, and signature or thumb impression of the voter. These forms are scrutinised the voting to detect any anomalies that can suggest bogus voting.
