Overview

• Voters will now deposit mobile phones at designated counters outside polling stations, with phones strictly prohibited inside polling stations.
• Canvassing booths for distributing unofficial voter slips are now permitted 100 meters from polling station entrances, reduced from the previous 200-meter limit.
• Electioneering activities remain banned within a 100-meter radius of polling stations to ensure a confidential voting process.
• Returning Officers can exempt specific polling stations from the mobile deposit requirement under adverse local conditions.
• These reforms, aligned with the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, will be piloted during the Bihar assembly elections and upcoming by-elections in June.