Patna: Soon after the first phase of elections concluded in Bihar, covering 121 of the 243 constituencies, the Election Commission announced a record turnout of 64.69%.

The EC had reason to celebrate. This was the highest participation since the first polls of 1951-52. Thursday’s figure even surpassed the 62.57% turnout recorded during the 2000 Assembly elections in undivided Bihar, when the state had 324 seats.

But while the EC’s morale is buoyed by the record turnout, political parties across the spectrum are left uneasy, wondering what the surge in voter participation might signify.

The ruling party insists that the record turnout signals strong support from women voters — just as in 2015 and 2020 — in favour of the NDA in general and Nitish Kumar in particular. The Opposition, howev

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