BEIJING - The amendment to China's Electoral Law, which grants rural residents equal rights in electing deputies to the people's congresses, received approval as the country's top legislature ended its annual session on Sunday.

The amendment, regarded as part of the country's efforts to narrow the urban-rural gap, requires "both rural and urban areas to adopt the same ratio of deputies to the represented population in elections of people's congress deputies".

It won 2,747 votes from the 2,909 deputies at the closing ceremony of the third session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC).