Chief of Election Commission (EC) Sunil Arora on Thursday in his address to the press along with Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Sushil Kumar said that Bihar polls will be conducted in three phases. The first phase will have 71 assembly constituencies in 16 districts, second phase will see 94 assembly constituencies while the third phase will see 78 constituencies in 15 districts.
First phase polls on October 28, second phase on November 3 while third phase will take place on November 7. Counting of votes will be done on November 10.
Arora said, "The world has changed and surely not for the better. The doubt and destruction caused by coronavirus has changed the way we live and work. As the COVID-19 spread across the globe, all election officials first thought it was needed to postpone polls. Over 70 nations postponed their elections. However, as days passed, many nations took the brave decisions to go ahead with their election schedules with safety norms."
The EC has revised the instructions for holding elections amid coronavirus. The first key step that was taken to decrease the number of electors at each polling station. We are all aware that the term of Assembly in Bihar is expiring on November 29. Bihar Assembly holds a strength of 243 members of which 38 seats are reserved for SC/STs,” he added.
Nomination form for Bihar Assembly Elections is now available online. Security money can also be transferred via online method. The number of people who will accompany the candidate to file nomination papers is limited to two people while only three people will be allowed for door-to-door campaigning.
While informing the COVID measures during the polls, he said, “There are certain norms which needs to be practiced. The polling time increased by one hour. Now it will be from 7 am to 6 pm. Postal ballots will be made available for people over age of 80. COVID positive patients can file the votes in ballot in the last.
Bihar assembly elections are the first to be conducted since the coronavirus crisis.
