New Delhi : The election commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the dates for 243 seat Bihar Legislative assembly election and by-elections in several states.
The Bihar election will be conducted in 3 phases. In the first phase, poling will be held in 71 seats in 16 districts on 28th October, in the 2nd phase election will be held in 94 seats of 17 districts on 3rd November, while the 3rd poling will be held on 7 the November in 78 seats of 15 districts.
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Speaking to newspersons, Chief Election Commisioner of India Sunil Arora said that the upcoming Bihar election will probably be the largest election in the World in the current pandemic time. As many as 7.79 crore voters will exercise their voting rights in the Poll.
Revised Poll guidelines due to COVID-19
In View of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Election Commission has revised the poling guidelines last month.
While, the norms of number of persons accompanying the candidate and number of vehicles at the time of nomination has been revised, the EC has also created optional facility to fill the nomination form and the affidavit online and submission of the same, after taking print, before the RO concerned. For the first time, the candidates will have the option to deposit security amount for contesting the elections online. Keeping the containment guidelines in view, the Commission has limited the number of persons including candidate for door to door campaign to five. Public meeting and road shows shall be permissible with suitable instructions subject to containment instructions issued by the MHA/State. Face Mask, Sanitizer, Thermal scanners, gloves, face shield and PPE kits shall be used during the electoral process ensuring social distancing norms. Hand gloves shall be provided to all the electors for signing on the voter register and pressing button of EVM for voting.
The Chief Electoral Officers of concerned States/UTs, shall make comprehensive State/District & AC election plans regarding arrangement and preventive measuresfollowing these guidelines taking local conditions into account. These plans will be prepared in consultation with Nodal Officer for COVID-19 in their respective States/UTs.