It's a record: 65% turnout in first phase of Bihar polls

PATNA/NEW DELHI: Bihar's electorate headlined Round 1 of the "vikas versus badlav" battle Thursday with the state's highest-ever voter turnout of 64.7% in 121 assembly constituencies of 18 districts, marking a decimal-point improvement over the previous record of 64.6% in the 1998 Lok Sabha election. The assembly poll turnout closest to the new record is 62.6% in 2000. Reports of deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha's convoy and a CPM candidate's car being attacked were the only law-and-order blips as an estimated 2.4 crore out of 3.7 crore registered voters voted across 45,341 polling booths, 36,733 of these in the rural belt. A voter in Vaishali came on buffalo back, some rode horses, and a few reached their designated polling stations by boat. "Democracy has won," chief election com