Patna, Nov 19 (IANS) Nearly 20 million eligible voters in Bihar are still without voter identity cards - making for a giant task for the Election Commission ahead of assembly polls next year.

'Despite less than a year for the next assembly polls, nearly 20 million voters are without voter identity cards in Bihar,' an official said.

According to official figures, there are 54,324,000 eligible voters in Bihar but only 35,171,917 have photo identity cards.

The state election department has directed district officials to speed up the process of issuing voter identity cards. Most eligible voters without identity cards have been using alternative documents as identity proof at the time of elections.