1,200 voters per booth: India to have smaller polling stations, EC’s Bihar election exercise to go national

Bihar will only allow 1,200 voters per booth in the upcoming assembly elections and eventually extend the cap to all subsequent polls, making it the first state to do so. Currently, the norm is to let 1,500 voters in polling stations (PS) across the country.

The reduced upper limit in the number of voters to be admitted per station will be accommodated in 12,817 new polling booths in Bihar, taking the total number of PS to 90,712 from 77,895.

The Election Commission announced the changes as part of an update on special intensive revision (SIR) that has created a lot of buzz regarding the new voters’ list ahead of the upcoming elections in Bihar.

The poll body says additional polling stations in Bihar are required as per SIR instructions dated June 24 and will be assessed by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) based on a cap of 1,200 electors per station.

They are intended to help reduce long queues on polling day. The EC emphasised that this cap of 1,200 electors per polling station will also be implemented across other states and Union Territories. The Commission had earlier announced that the SIR exercise would be conducted nationwide, with the schedule to be announced separately.

The CEOs DEOs/EROs/BLOs have held meetings with representatives of all political parties and shared detailed lists of the 29.62 lakh electors whose Forms have not been received so far, as well as the nearly 43.93 lakh electors who were not found at their addresses.

All 12 major political parties have also been requested to connect with these remaining electors through their District Presidents and nearly 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs). This is to ensure that the entire election machinery, including political parties, works together in a mission mode so that no eligible elector is left out of the draft Electoral Roll to be published on August 1, 2025, as per ECI.

In a statement, ECI said that from August 1, 2025, any member of the public can file objections for any additions/deletions/rectifications in Draft Electoral Rolls, in accordance with the SIR order dated 24.06.2025.

With inputs from agencies