The Election Commission on Friday announced the dates for the Bihar Assembly elections. The elections in the state will be held in three phases — on 28 October, and 3 and 7 November. The counting of votes and the results will be declared on 10 November.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, while addressing the press conference in New Delhi, said that in the first phase of voting, 71 Assembly constituencies in 16 districts will go to the polls, in the second phase, 94 constituencies in 17 districts will vote, and in the third and last phase, voting will be held in 78 constituencies in 15 districts.
Keeping in the mind the pandemic, polling has been extended by one hour and will go on from 7 am to 6 pm. The last hour will be reserved for those with Covid-19 and those who are quarantined, CEC Sunil Arora said. Seven lakh hand sanitisers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields and 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have also been arranged for the Bihar polls. All physical contact has been prohibited during the campaign, he added.
A meeting has been called on Tuesday, 29 September, for the bypolls due in one Lok Sabha constituency and 64 Assembly seats, to review the objections raised by a few states to poll timing. The date for the bypolls will be announced after the meeting, said CEC Arora. On 4 September, the Election Commission had issued a statement and said, “Considering that General Assembly Elections of Bihar are also due and required to be completed before 29th November, the Commission has decided to conduct all the 65 bye-elections and the General Assembly Elections of Bihar around the same time.”
This development affirms The Daily Guardian’s report from 12 August, which had spoken of the Election Commission’s deliberations to ensure timely elections in Bihar.
One of the major factors in clubbing them together is the relative ease of movement of CAPF/other law and order forces, and related logistics issues, the statement said.
The EC also said, “The Commission reviewed the reports and inputs from Chief Secretaries/ Chief Electoral Officers of many of the concerned states seeking deferment of the bye-elections in their states in view of several factors including the extraordinary heavy rains in some places and other constraints like pandemic, etc.”
On 12 August, the Election Commission had rejected demands made by political parties in Bihar, including the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to postpone the Assembly elections in the state. The political parties in Bihar, including RJD and LJP, had written a letter to the Election Commission saying it is not advisable to put the lives of lakhs of people at risk by holding elections at this time.
On 5 July, Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer had sent several proposals to the Election Commission of India to ensure that voters adhere to social distancing norms for the state Assembly elections.
The Chief Electoral Officer had recommended the use of toothpicks for voting over the wearing of khadi gloves inside a polling booth. He had suggested, “There are at least three places inside the polling booth where physical contact could happen with voters. First, when the voter signs or puts their thumb impression in the voter register, second, when the indelible ink is put on their finger, and third, when the voter casts their vote.” The poll body has sent proposals to minimise contact in all suggested areas and has allowed postal ballot voting for those above 65 years of age or those under institutional or home quarantine.
The Assembly elections will also need 45 per cent more polling booths as compared to the 2015 Assembly polls to ensure adherence with social distancing norms during voting.
The tenure of the current Assembly in Bihar will end on 29 November.