Elections in Bihar on Nov 6, 11; counting of votes on Nov 14

New Delhi, Oct 6 (PTI) Bihar will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11 and votes will be counted on November 14 to decide the fate of the ruling NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the challenge posed by the opposition bloc comprising the RJD and Congress among others.

The election in the politically important state this time has a third force in the form of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, while a Special Intensive Review (SIR), which Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar repeatedly described as "shuddhikaran" (purification), of the voter list has already charged up the electoral process.

Announcing the schedule, Kumar said elections will be held in 121 seats of the 243-member Assembly on November 6, while the remaining 122 constituencies will go to polls on November 11. The counting of votes will be held on November 14.

The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into effect in Bihar with the announcement of the assembly elections.

In the outgoing assembly, the ruling NDA has 138 members, while the opposition alliance has 103 members in the 243-member Assembly.

As many as 7.42 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise across 90,712 polling stations, all of which have webcast facilities to ensure transparent elections.

Bihar has 3.92 crore male voters and 3.5 crore female voters. Nearly 14,000 voters are more than 100 years old, while 14 lakh will exercise their right to vote for the first time.

Kumar said nearly 69 lakh names have been deleted since the start of the SIR of electoral rolls, but refused to answer specific questions on how many deletions happened due to non-citizenship.

"A breakup cannot be given in a decentralised set-up. The ERO (Electoral Registration Officer) makes the voter lists, it can be appealed at the level of district magistrate and the Chief Electoral Officer.

"This has to be followed by everyone as it is mentioned in the Representative of People Act. When elections are held, the process is conducted under the supervision of the returning officer and there is a provision for election petition," Kumar said.

He said the main reasons for the deletion of names were deaths, unproven citizenship or permanent migration to other states and this data had been shared with the political parties.

After demand from several political parties, Kumar said it has now been made mandatory to complete the counting of postal ballots before the last two rounds of counting of votes.

Terming the Bihar elections as "mother of all elections", the CEC said the Commission will roll out 17 new initiatives, which could be implemented across the country later.

Crediting the SIR, Kumar said the upcoming elections in Bihar could be the most transparent one in India's electoral history and the state will show the way to the rest of the country on the purification of voter lists.

Responding to a question about women voters wearing a burqa and a veil (ghunghat), Kumar said there are clear guidelines of the Commission about the verification of identity inside polling booths and they will be strictly followed.

"Our anganwadi workers will be deployed at all polling booths for verifying the identity of burqa-clad women. The guidelines of the Commission are very clear about how identity is verified inside a polling station and they will be followed strictly," he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the NDA government has pulled Bihar out of 'Jungle Raj' and given it a new direction of development and good governance.

Shah expressed confidence that the people of the state will once again choose the politics of development in the coming assembly elections.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said Bihar will vote for change in the upcoming assembly polls and "every Bihari will be the CM".

JD(U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha said he was fully confident that after this election, the NDA will form the government with a massive majority under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Congress alleged that the Election Commission was in an "alliance" with the BJP and claimed that it failed to provide answers to the questions of "vote chori" raised by party leader Rahul Gandhi. PTI NAB GJS SKU BJ SKU KSS KSS