After months of speculation, the Bihar Assembly elections will be held in two phases – on November 6 and November 11 – the Election Commission of India announced at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, October 6.
Counting of votes will be held on November 14.
The elections will be the first to take place after the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which removed 68.5 lakh voters and added 21.5 lakh new ones. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar had earlier asserted that the special intensive revision in Bihar “purified” the voters’ list after 22 years, and said many new initiatives were being undertaken for the upcoming assembly polls, which would be replicated across the country in due course.
The tenure of the 243-member state assembly will end on November 22.
CEC Gyanesh Kumar informed that there are a total of 7.42 crore voters in Bihar, of which 3.92 crore are male and 3.5 crore are women. Around 14 lakh have been registered as first-time voters.
A total of 90,712 polling stations are being set up in Bihar, he said.
“We want to assure that the Bihar elections are conducted transparently and peacefully,” he said.
The previous day, political parties requested the polling body to hold assembly elections “immediately after” the Chhat festival to ensure increased voter participation and in as few phases as possible.
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