Bihar to vote in two phases in November; results on Nov 14

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Monday announced the schedule for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. The state will go to the polls in two phases— on November 6 and November 11— Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced at a press conference. The results will be announced on November 14. 

Terming the Bihar polls as "mother of all elections", CEC said that 121 assembly constituencies will go to the polls in the first phase, and voting will be held in 122 assembly constituencies in the second phase.

For the first phase, the last date of filing nominations is October 17, while the scrutiny will be held on October 18. The last date of withdrawal of candidature for the first phase elections is October 20. Similarly, for the second phase, the last date of filing nominations is October 20, while scrutiny will be held on October 21. The last date of withdrawal of candidature for the first phase elections is October 23. The CEC said that people can still add their names to the voter lists till 10 days before the filing of nomination papers by candidates.

Assembly bypolls in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Punjab, Telangana, and Rajasthan will also be held on November 11, with the counting of votes set for November 14.

He assured that the elections will be conducted in a free, fair, transparent, and peaceful manner. "We want to assure all stakeholders that the Bihar elections will be conducted in a transparent and peaceful manner," he said. 

He noted that, for the first time, one general observer will be assigned to each of the 243 constituencies, and one police observer will be deployed in each of the 38 districts. The CEC also added that counting of postal ballots must be completed before the last two rounds of vote counting.

According to the Election Commission, Bihar has a total of 7.42 crore registered voters, including 3.92 crore male and 3.5 crore female voters. Among them, 14 lakh are first-time voters. Notably, the state also has a remarkable number of elderly voters, with around 14,000 over 100 years old.

The Commission has set up a total of 90,712 polling stations across the state to facilitate smooth voting. The police will conduct patrolling on horseback at 250 polling stations, while polling parties will travel by boat to reach 197 stations, according to the CEC.

He added that there is an average of 818 voters per polling booth, and webcasting facilities would be available at all polling booths. 

Kumar also said that violence will not be tolerated, and the Commission has issued strict directives to address any threats to voters or candidates. He also added that fake news on social media and other platforms will be countered strictly. 

On the controversy regarding the Special Intensive Revision of the voters' list in the state, the CEC said that "Bihar has shown the way to the nation on purifying voter lists."

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party has announced that it will contest the elections to all 243 seats of the Bihar assembly, and has released its first list of 11 candidates as it forayed into the state.

The term of the 243-member state assembly ends on November 22.