Bihar to vote on November 6, 11; results on 14

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday (October 6) announced the full schedule for the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, setting the stage for a high-octane political battle in two phases in November.

Voting for the 243-member Assembly will take place on November 6 and 11. The counting takes place on November 14.

With the announcement of the dates, the Model Code of Conduct comes into immediate effect across the state.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar detailed the schedule at a press conference in New Delhi, emphasising the need for a two-phase election to ensure the smooth deployment of security forces and efficient management of polling across all 38 districts.

While 121 Assembly constituencies will go to the polls in the first phase, voting will be held in 122 Assembly constituencies in the second phase.

Kumar termed the Bihar elections as "mother of all elections".

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 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 term of the current Assembly ends on November 22. Bihar has 243 constituencies, including two reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 38 for Scheduled Castes.

Over 7 crore voters

Over 7.4 crore people are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections, including 14 lakh first-time voters. "There are a total of 7.42 crore voters in Bihar, of which 3.92 crore are males and 3.5 crore are women. There are 14 lakh first-time voters and 4 lakh senior citizen voters," Kumar said at a press conference.

At least 14,000 voters in the state are aged above 100 years. A total of 90,712 polling stations are being set up in Bihar, he said.

Controversial elections in the offing

The announcement comes amid a raging controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls, which has led to a reduction of 38 lakh voters, prompting the Opposition to make big allegations of vote chori (theft).

The EC will also roll out certain electoral reforms with the Bihar polls. These include a cap of 1,200 on the number of voters allotted to each polling station, and the serial number font and candidate photos being printed in colour.

The SIR exercise has led to a significant drop in the number of voters — the final list was released on September 30. While the total electorate has gone down from about 7.8 crore to 7.42 crore in the final rolls, male voters were cut by 3.8 per cent (15.5 lakh), while women voters declined by 6.1 per cent (22.7 lakh).

The Opposition, led by the Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, has held a Voter Adhikar Yatra in the state to protest against the SIR exercise.

The BJP-led NDA currently holds 131 seats in the 243-seat Assembly, including the BJP’s 80 seats, JD(U)’s 45, HAM(S)’s 4, and two independents. The Opposition Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) holds 111 seats, with the RJD’s 77, Congress’s 19, CPI(ML)’s 11, and two each of CPI(M) and CPI.

Also read:

Congress claims EC’s Bihar SIR removed 23 lakh women from voters’ list

NDA’s Rs 62,000 Cr poll bonanza blunts Opposition's ‘vote chori’ plank

Why is Nitish, known for no-tolerance policy, mum on graft charges against Bihar ministers

SIR: 'Final' Bihar voter roll still a mystery, leaves Grand Alliance baffled

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