The Election Commission of India on Sunday offered a clarification as questions circulated on social media about a jump in Bihar's voter count between the poll announcement and polling day.

Senior officials said Bihar had roughly 7.43 crore registered voters on the day the election schedule was announced. But the window for eligible citizens to file Form 6 and seek inclusion in the electoral roll remained open for another 10 to 13 days, depending on the phase.

For the first phase, Form 6 applications were accepted till 10 October; for the second, till 13 October, the poll body said.

By polling day, Bihar's total number of eligible voters had risen to 7,45,26,858. The combined final and supplementary rolls also recorded 7,69,356 first-time voters. NOTA drew 9,10,710 votes, about 8.81 p

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