The Election Commission of India will announce the schedule for the Bihar legislative assembly polls on Monday. The poll authority has convened a press conference at 4 pm.
The term of the 243-member state assembly ends on November 22.
Political parties have urged the EC to hold the polls immediately after the Chhath festival, which will be celebrated at the end of October, to ensure greater voter participation as a large number of people employed outside return home for festivities.
JD(U) Bihar president Umesh Singh Kushwaha said, “We have urged the ECI to conduct elections in a single phase and just right after Chhath Puja so that people living outside the state can also cast their vote.” BJP Bihar chief Dilip Jaiswal said, “We have also called for marches of paramilitary forces in backward areas to make sure people are at ease.”
The 2020 assembly polls in the state were held in three phases under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ECI reviews initiatives
On Sunday, CEC Gyanesh Kumar announced that 17 new initiatives have been implemented for the Bihar polls. Speaking at a press conference in Patna, he said, “Seventeen new initiatives have been successfully implemented in Bihar; some will be implemented in the conduct of elections, and some in counting.”
Highlighting improvements in voter list management, the CEC said, “Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are responsible for preparing the voter list. In Bihar, there is an ERO in each of the 243 assembly constituencies. Together, they, along with 243 EROs and 90,207 BLOs, completed the task of cleansing the voter list after nearly 22 years.”
Other measures include doubling remuneration for BLOs, BLO supervisors, polling and counting staff, CAPF, monitoring teams, and micro-observers. Provision of honorarium has also been extended to EROs and AEROs for the first time, along with enhanced refreshments. Mobile phone deposit counters outside polling stations and colour photographs of candidates on EVMs are among other reforms. The CEC added, “Hundred percent webcasting will be carried out in every booth during the Bihar polls.”
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(With PTI inputs)
