New Delhi: Bihar has become the first state in the country to have less than 1,200 electors across polling stations, the Election Commission said on Monday.
The poll body recently undertook an exercise to reduce electors per polling station from 1,500 to a maximum of 1,200 to shorten queues on voting days.
To accommodate voters, 12,817 new polling stations have been added in Bihar to prevent long queues, the EC said.
The total number of polling stations in Bihar will now go up to 90,712 from the earlier 77,895.
A similar exercise to reduce the number of voters per polling station (called rationalisation in EC’s terminology) will be undertaken in all states and union territories.
The EC had been working to ensure voters do not have to travel beyond 2 kilometres to reach polling stations wherever possible.
Polling stations were set up in high-rise buildings and societies to ensure greater voter participation.
