Bihar Assembly Elections to Be Held in Two Phases on November 6 and 11: Counting on November 14
“The Election Commission does not respond to political rhetoric. We are a democracy, and that space is maintained for that purpose,”
Bihar Assembly Elections to Be Held in Two Phases on November 6 and 11: Counting on November 14: The Assembly elections in Bihar will be held in two phases, with polling scheduled for November 6 (121 seats) and November 11 (122 seats), while the counting of votes will take place on November 14, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced on Monday.
The entire election process will be concluded by November 16. “Bihar elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. Counting of votes will be done on November 14,” Kumar said at a press conference.
“It is mandatory to complete the counting of postal ballots before the last two rounds of vote counting,” he added.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, arrived at Vigyan Bhawan to announce the schedule for the Bihar Assembly elections.
According to the CEC, Bihar has a total of 7.42 crore voters — 3.92 crore male and 3.5 crore female voters. Around 14 lakh are first-time voters, while 14,000 voters are over 100 years old. There are a total of 90,712 polling stations across the state.
Gyanesh Kumar said, “All officials have been instructed to work in an absolutely impartial manner and remain accessible to stakeholders. If any misinformation is found through any media house or individual, it will be countered by the Election Commission.”
New voter cards will be issued to those newly added this time and to anyone who has made changes to their voter IDs. “Earlier, it used to take many days, but we have now formulated SOPs to provide them within 15 days,” the CEC said.
There will be police patrolling on horseback at 250 polling stations, while polling parties will travel by boat in 197 polling stations.
Fake news on social media and other platforms will be dealt with strictly. Strict directives have been issued to the administration to ensure zero tolerance toward any violence, leaving no scope for threats to voters or candidates, he added.
“To maintain transparency, webcasting will be conducted from 100 percent of polling booths, compared to 50 percent earlier,” Kumar said. “Previously, candidates were unhappy with their black-and-white photographs on EVMs; this time, their photos will be in colour, and the font size has also been increased.”
For the first time, there will be one general observer for each of the 243 constituencies and one police observer for each of the 38 districts, the CEC announced.
“We request all political parties to cooperate with the Election Commission in ensuring transparent elections. They should appoint polling booth agents at every booth, actively participate in the randomisation of EVMs and VVPATs, and remain vigilant at the strong rooms,” he added.
Responding to allegations of partiality against the Election Commission, Gyanesh Kumar said, “Being a constitutional institution, the Election Commission functions under the Constitution to conduct national and state elections. Due to decentralisation, local authorities prepare the electoral rolls, and the ERO takes the final call. If anyone has objections, they can file them with the District Magistrate and then the Chief Electoral Officer. Political parties should be active in this regard. There is no case of partiality as everything is transparent. The people of Bihar have contributed to the SIR process. None of the voters had complaints, and if there were any, they were resolved by the EROs. The main reasons behind the deletion of names are deaths, unproven citizenship, or permanent migration to other states. All data have been shared with political parties.”
“For identifying voters, especially those wearing burqas, Anganwadi workers will be present at polling booths, and their identities will be verified as per Election Commission guidelines,” he said.
“We share webcasting footage of the voting process with the Supreme Court and High Courts. Whether someone casts their vote is their right to privacy, as upheld by several Supreme Court judgments. Some people approached the Maharashtra High Court, which upheld the SC’s view, and the Supreme Court reaffirmed it on appeal. Regarding freebies, once the Model Code of Conduct is implemented, we take strict measures. After this press conference concludes, we will initiate the strictest actions under the law,” Gyanesh Kumar stated.
“The Election Commission does not respond to political rhetoric. We are a democracy, and that space is maintained for that purpose,” he added.
“People have immense trust in the Election Commission, and the Commission equally trusts the people. Together with voters, we will make this Bihar election a success. During the SIR, some attempts were made to create confusion, but they failed. Over 7.42 crore voters stand firmly with the Election Commission,” Kumar concluded.
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