Election Commission announces dates for Bihar Assembly elections 2020

September 25, 2020

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Election Comission has announced the dates of Bihar Election 2020 on Friday. Voting will be held in three phases from 28 October to 7 November in Bihar. The votes will be counted on November 10 and the results will be announced. The term of the 243-member assembly of Bihar expires on 29 November. The Chief Election Commissioner said that the bye-elections for Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and UP will be announced on November 29.

How many seats in which phase elections?

>> In the first phase, elections will be held in 71 seats on October 28. There will be 16 districts, 31 thousand polling booths in it.
>> The second phase will go to polls on 94 November. There will be 17 districts, 42 thousand polling booths in it.
>> In the third phase, voting will be done on 78 seats on 7 November. There will be 15 districts, 33.5 thousand polling booths in it.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said that 70 countries postponed elections. We wanted the democratic rights of the people to remain. We also had to worry about the health of the voters. This is going to be the first largest election in the world, not only of the country, but in the world in the time of Corona. Therefore many major changes have been made.

Voting time increased due to Corona

The Election Commission has extended the voting time by one hour due to Corona. Except in Naxalite affected areas, voting will be done in the normal areas between 7 am to 6 am instead of 7 am to 5 pm. A polling booth will have 1000 voters instead of 1500. Corona patients will also be able to vote in the last hour of voting.

46 lakh masks and 46 lakh gloves to be used

Bihar has 243 seats. 7.29 crore people will vote. 1.73 lakh VVPAT will be used. 46 lakh masks, 7.6 lakh face shields, 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves and 6 lakh PPE kits will be used.

Rules set for nomination

During this time, candidates will be able to take only 2 vehicles instead of 5. The patients of Corona who are quarantined will be able to vote in the last hour on the day of voting.

Instructions to social media platforms as well

CEC Sunil Arora said that social media platforms are expected to make robust security arrangements against misuse of their platforms and strict protocols should be put in place to deal with such issues if any such dispute arises.

Model Code of Conduct (MCC) implemented

CEC Arora said that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into force with this announcement. The Commission has already made elaborate arrangements to ensure effective implementation of their guidelines.

Only virtual promotions allowed

CEC Arora said that there will be only virtual publicity and if they are making offline enrollment then only 2 vehicles and 2 people will be together. It was told that this time the number of voters at the polling booth has been reduced in the assembly elections. There are 7.29 crore voters in the state with 3.39 crore female and 3.79 crore male voters.