The Election Commission today announced the schedule for Bihar Assembly Elections 2020. The voting will take place in three phases – first phase on October 28, second on November 3 and third on November 7. Counting of votes will be done on November 10.
In the first phase, polling in 71 Assembly constituencies in 16 districts will be done. In the second phase, 94 constituencies in 17 districts will go to polls, while in the third phase, voting will take place in 78 constituencies in 15 districts.
The model code of conduct has come into force immediately after the announcement of the Bihar Assembly Elections 2020 schedule.
This time, the Election Commission has decided to hold voting across the state in just three phases so that the movement of security personnel can be minimised amid the COVID-19 situation.
“Elections entail large scale deployment of security forces. We have tried to minimise their movement over long distances. This is due to their fatigue as well as Covid-19,” said Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, announcing the schedule.
Taking into consideration the safety of voters, the timing of polling has been extended by one hour. Now, voters in Bihar will be able to exercise their franchise from 7 am to 6 pm. The last one hour has been set aside for those who have contracted COVID-19 or who are in quarantine, reported The Indian Express.
Besides, in order to ensure that the social distancing at each polling station can be followed, the EC has reduced the number of voters at each booth to 1,000. As a result of this, number of polling stations has gone up to more than one lakh. In 2015 Bihar Assembly Elections, the number stood at over 65,000.
To hold Bihar Assembly Elections 2020 safely, the Election Commission has arranged more than seven lakh hand sanitiser units, about 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh units of faces-shields, 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves, reported Times of India.
The term of the current Assembly is due to end on November 29. There are 243 seats in Bihar Assembly.
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