The Election Commission of India on Friday announced that elections for 243 Assembly seats in Bihar will take place in three phases — first on October 28, second on November 3 and the third on November 7 — while counting of all votes will take place on November 10.
The EC announced the poll schedule rejecting the demand for postponement of the polls by political parties due to coronavirus pandemic and flood in the State.
The Assembly polls in Bihar will be the biggest voting exercise in the world to be held in the time of coronavirus. There will be an extra voting hour, separate voting for Covid patients, suspects and those in quarantine, and no physical contact during the campaign.
With this announcement, the Model Code of Conduct comes into force in the State. Bihar’s 243-member Assembly is set to expire on November 29, 2020.
However, the dates for by-polls to 64 Assembly constituencies and one parliamentary seat will be announced next week on Tuesday (September 29), after the EC reviews the objections of some States to the timing of the polls.
The Bihar Assembly elections are crucial for the BJP as it has suffered electoral setbacks after retaining power at the Centre with a bigger majority in 2019. It was unable to form the Government in Maharashtra despite emerging as the single largest party following disagreements with its oldest ally, Shiv Sena, over power-sharing.
In Haryana, it could form the Government only after the Jannayak Janata Party’s support. The BJP was voted out of power in Jharkhand in December 2019. The Opposition in Bihar, including the RJD and the Congress, wanted to defer the polls in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and floods in several districts in the State while the ruling Janata Dal (United) and the BJP was in favour of elections on time.
Defending the decision to hold the polls during the pandemic, CEC Arora said, “There was no end to the battle against coronavirus, thus some way had to be found a way to balance the democratic rights of people to elect a public representative and also keep public health in place.”
Arora called it a “leap of faith” and said it was not a leap in the dark, pointing out that medical and engineering exams JEE and NEET also took place recently. “Life has to go on,” he said, adding over 70 countries initially postponed their elections.
He announced several measures have been taken for campaigning and polling to ensure safety of leaders and voters including elaborate sanitisation and social distancing protocols have been put in place.
Among the steps taken, polling time will be increased by one hour and will now be from 7 am to 6 pm, except in areas affected by Maoist extremism. Covid infected persons and virus suspects will vote separately. Those in quarantine can cast their votes at the end of voting time. All physical contact has been prohibited during the campaign.
In the first phase of the Bihar election, 71 Assembly constituencies in 16 districts will vote. The second phase will involve 94 Assembly constituencies in 17 districts, and, the final phase, 78 seats in 15 districts. Compared to 2015 where there were 65,337 polling booths, there are more than a lakh polling booth this time around, and not more than 1,000 voters per booth will be allowed compared to 1,500 earlier.
The notification for the first phase of Bihar Assembly elections would be issued on October 1, while the last date of nominations would be October 8 and withdrawal of candidature can be done till October 12. For the second phase, notification would be issued on October 9, nominations can be filed till October 16 and candidature can be withdrawn till October 19. The third-phase notification would be issued on October 13, the last date of nominations would be October 20 and the last date for candidature withdrawal has been fixed on October 23.
Bihar has recorded an electorate count of 7.29 crore for these polls. CEC Arora informed that about 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh units of faces-shields, 23 lakh (pairs of) hand gloves arranged. For voters specifically, 7.2 crore single-use hand gloves are arranged.
Arora said 230,000 migrant workers, who have returned to Bihar after losing their jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic, have been added to the updated voters’ list in the State.
Arora said the EC will take stringent measures to enforce the code, especially related to the declaration of the criminal antecedents of the candidates.
Political parties and candidates can hold rallies as part of their campaigning for the Bihar Assembly polls and the grounds where such meetings will be held will have white circles to ensure distancing norms.
Arora said he wants to dispel doubts that there will only be virtual campaigning in the State. The “propaganda” that only virtual meets will take place during campaigning is way off the mark, he said.
Arora said the district election officers have already identified places where gatherings can take place. The exercise of putting markers to ensure distancing norms is on. District election officers and district superintendents of police should ensure that the number of attendees does not exceed the limit prescribed by the State Disaster Management Authority for public gatherings, an EC statement later said.
As part of restrictions put in place to check the spread of the virus, the EC has reduced the number of people who can undertake door-to-door campaigning. A group of five people, including candidates, but excluding security personnel, is allowed to campaign from door to door.
For road shows, the convoy of vehicles should be after every five vehicles instead of 10 vehicles. The interval between two sets of convoy of vehicles should be half an hour instead of a gap of 100 metres. The EC has revised the norms of the number of people accompanying the candidate and number of vehicles at the time of nomination.
The EC will provide a small kit containing N95 mask, sanitiser and gloves to protect the employees on poll duty in the state. The packet will also contain one safety key chain to avoid the use of hands while pressing buttons.