Patna: The counting of votes for the Bihar Assembly elections is set to commence at 8 AM on Friday, starting with postal ballots, followed by electronic voting machine (EVM) votes from 8:30 AM, as stated by the Election Commission of India (ECI). A total of over 5 crore (50 million) votes cast across 243 assembly constituencies will be counted at 4,372 tables throughout the state. The Election Commission has confirmed that all measures for transparency, security, and efficiency are in place. Postal ballots will be counted in the presence of the returning officer or assistant returning officer, along with candidates or their authorized agents. Each constituency will have a returning officer and a counting observer to supervise the process.
Before the counting starts, each EVM control unit will be presented at the counting table for verification of seals and serial numbers. In the event of any disputes or discrepancies in the vote records, the corresponding Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips will be compared with the EVM count. Once the EVM counting is completed, five polling stations in each constituency will be randomly chosen for cross-verification of VVPAT slips against the electronic tally, with candidates and their agents present. Over 18,000 counting agents appointed by candidates will oversee the process to ensure fairness. Each counting table will be staffed with a supervisor, an assistant, and a micro-observer.
The ECI has mandated that results be compiled by rounds and constituencies and uploaded to its official results portal by the respective returning officers. Voting in Bihar took place in two phases on November 6 and 11, achieving the highest-ever voter turnout of 67.13%, with 74.5 million registered voters and over 50 million participating in the elections.