The Election Commission of India has announced the dates for the Bihar election 2020 in a press conference at 12:30 PM today. The general elections in Bihar will be conducted in three phases. In first phase, elections will be held in 71 Assembly constituencies. In second phase, 94 Assembly constituencies will go to polls. In third phase, polling will be held in 78 Assembly constituencies.
Date of polling:
1st phase: October 28
2nd phase: November 3
3rd phase: November 7
Bihar Assembly Elections 2020: Phase 1
- Date of issue of gazette notification: Oct 1
- Last date of nomination: Oct 8
- Scrutiny of nomination: Oct 9
- Last date of withdrawal of candidature: Oct 12
- Date of polling: Oct 28
- Date of counting: Nov 10
Bihar Assembly Elections 2020: Phase 2
- Date of issue of gazette notification: Oct 9
- Last date of nomination: Oct 16
- Scrutiny of nomination: Oct 17
- Last date of withdrawal of candidature: Oct 19
- Date of polling: Nov 3
- Date of counting: Nov 10
Bihar Assembly Elections 2020: Phase 3
- Date of issue of gazette notification: Oct 13
- Last date of nomination: Oct 20
- Scrutiny of nomination: Oct 21
- Last date of withdrawal of candidature: Oct 23
- Date of polling: Nov 7
- Date of counting: Nov 10
CEC Sunil Arora in the press conference said, “Uncertainty of the coronavirus has forced a new normal. As the pandemic spread, first reaction of election management committees across the world was to postpone elections. More than 70 countries did it. However, as days and months passed, and coronavirus showed no signs of abetting, it was realised that some way would have to be found to balance the democratic rights of the electorate to choose their reps while also making sincere and systematic effort to protect health and safety of people. Consequently, many countries took the courageous decision to conduct polls. We started with 18 seats to RS and some MLC polls.”
“We are under a new normal because of the pandemic and we are in an unpredictable situation. A systemic effort is being made for the safety of people. We conducted an election for 18 seats of Rajya Sabha during amid the pandemic”, CEC Arora added.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that the poll body has held several interactions with CEO of Bihar and some of the arrangements being made for assembly elections amid COVID-19 are as follows:
- 7 lakh sanitizers
- 46 lakh masks
- 6 lakh PPE kits
- 7.6 lakh units of face shields
- 23 lakh unit of hand gloves
The Election Commission released a standard guideline to conduct polls and by-polls amid the pandemic.
Guidelines for Election contest and voting by ECI:
- Thermal screening of all persons. Sanitiser, soap, and water to be made available at every booth.
- The door-to-door campaign is subject to restrictions. Only five, including the candidate but excluding the security personnel, are allowed for door-to-door campaigning.
- The convoy of vehicles should be broken after every five vehicles instead of 10 vehicles.
- Every person should wear face masks during every election-related activity.
- Large halls should be identified as booths and counting centres so that social distancing can be maintained.
- The nomination form will be made available online. It can be filled online and its print may be taken out for submitting.
- Candidates can deposit security money online though the cash deposit option will also be there.
- Only two persons can accompany a candidate for submission of the nomination.
