an improved electromagnetic switching apparatus including a housing , a plurality of movable contact bridges mounted on a contact bridge carrier , first fixed contact elements which extend around one end of the contact bridges and are coupled to terminal elements for the first fixed contact elements , and electrically - separated second fixed contact elements disposed at the other end of the contact bridges on both sides thereof . the improvement of the invention comprises the provision of means for selectively electrically connecting the second fixed contact elements to a common terminal element .