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The Election Commission on Wednesday announced the dates for the much-awaited Assembly elections for 243 seats in Bihar. Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced that the polling would be conducted in five phases in state, polling for which would begin on October 12. The second, third, fourth and fifth phases of polling will be held on October 16, October 28, November 1 and November 5.
The counting of votes will take place on November 8.
As many as 49 seats would go to polls in the first phase while 32 constituencies would vote in the second phase of the Assembly elections. The third, fourth and fifth phase of the elections will be fought in 50, 55 and 57 seats respectively.
Here are the important dates:
Phase 1:
Date of notification: September 16
Last date of notification: September 23
Date of scrutiny: September 24
Last date of withdrawal: September 26
Date of polling: October 12, 2015
Number of constituencies: 49
Number of reserved seats: 9
Phase 2
Date of notification: September 21
Last date of notification: September 28
Date of scrutiny: September 29
Last date of withdrawal: October 1
Date of polling: October 16, 2015
Number of constituencies: 32
Number of reserved seats: 7
Phase 3
Date of notification: October 1
Last date of notification: October 8
Date of scrutiny: October 9
Last date of withdrawal: October 12
Date of polling: October 28
Number of constituencies: 50
Number of reserved seats: 8
Phase 4
Date of notification: October 7
Last date of notification: October 14
Date of scrutiny: October 15
Last date of withdrawal: October 17
Date of polling: November 1
Number of constituencies: 55
Number of reserved seats: 7
Phase 5
Date of notification: October 8
Last date of notification: October 15
Date of scrutiny: October 17
Last date of withdrawal: October 19
Date of polling: November 5
Number of constituencies: 57
Number of reserved seats: 9
Counting of votes: November 8
According to the Election Commission, the process of election will be completed by November 12. The CEC further said that the model code of conduct is in place with immediate effect.
The voting will be held in as many as 62,779 polling booth.
The Bihar Assembly elections are being seen as a battle primarily between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While Nitish’s Janata Dal-United (JDU) is contesting is contesting the election in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sided with smaller parties like the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RSLP) and the Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM).
In the run to the polls, several top leaders, including Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, HAM’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, have indulged in bitter war of words. While PM Modi questioned the “DNA" of the Bihar Chief Minister, the JDU leader hit back calling it an attack on the pride of Bihar.
The JDU has also kickstarted a ‘Jumla Babu’ campaign to take on Prime Minister Modi on the promises he made before Lok Sabha elections 2014, but failed to fulfil.
While the JDU-RJD-Congress combine has already finalised the seat sharing for the polls, the NDA alliance is yet to make a formal announcement on the same. The JDU and the RJD will be contesting on 100 seats each whereas the Congress will try its luck on 40 seats.
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