Patna, Jun 28 (PTI): Bihar on Saturday became the first state to implement mobile phone-based e-voting during local body elections, a top Election Commission official said.
State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad said while 70.20 per cent of the eligible voters used the e-voting system, 54.63 per cent exercised their franchise by visiting polling booths.
"Bihar has made history today. Bibha Kumari, a resident of Pakridayal in East Champaran district, became the first person in the country to cast a vote via mobile phone during a local body election," the State Election Commission posted on X.
"A symbol of convenience, security, and empowered participation," it added.
Polling for six nagar panchayats and municipal bypolls recorded an overall voter turnout of 62.41 per cent, Prasad said, adding that the elections were conducted peacefully across all locations.
Polling, which was conducted from 7 am to 5 pm, covered 489 booths, with 538 candidates in the fray.
Prasad said the introduction of e-voting aims to increase voter turnout and make the process more inclusive.
The system was specifically designed for voters who face challenges in reaching polling booths, such as the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and migrants.
Only pre-registered users were allowed to vote via the e-voting platform, he added.
The districts where the nagar panchayat and municipal bypolls were held included Patna, Buxar, Bhojpur, Kaimur, Nalanda, Katihar, Araraia, Saharsa, East Champaran, etc.
Counting of votes will be held on June 30.
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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): International Master Divya Deshmukh gave nothing away and held higher-ranked Grandmaster and compatriot Koneru Humpy to an easy draw on Sunday to force the final into a tie-breaker where games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Divya, who did not make utmost use of her promising opening in the first game of the match, was far more composed against a Queen pawn opening and faced little trouble playing with black pieces.
Humpy, got the optical advantage with her pair of bishops out of the opening but Divya knew that if she placed her knights perfectly, white will not be able to create many problems. As it happened in the game after two minor pieces, the pair of rooks also changed hands and the queen-and-minor-piece endgame only offered little hope.
Humpy tried to make some headway with a pawn sacrifice in the endgame but in the process her bishop pair was gone, and though a pawn plus, Divya had to cover some weaknesses.
After the dust settled, Humpy recovered the pawn back and Divya repeated the position through checks to sign peace in 34 moves.
The tiebreaker will see two games of 15 minutes each with a 10 second increment after every move is played.
If the scores are still level, the players will play another set of 10 minutes per game with a 10 second increment. If the tie doesn't get resolved, it will be two more games of five minutes plus three second increment.
Should the deadlock continue, one game will be played with three minutes to both players with a two second increment unless one player ends up winner.
In the play-off for the third place between China's Zhongyi Tan and Lei Tingjie, the match looked headed towards a draw.
Results: Koneru Humpy (Ind) drew with Divya Deshmukh (Ind); Lei Tingjie (Chn) playing Tan Zhongyi (Chn).