Bihar polls from Oct 18

The Election Commission today announced four-phase elections for Bihar — on October 18, 26 and November 13 and 19. This will be the sec...

The Election Commission today announced four-phase elections for Bihar — on October 18, 26 and November 13 and 19.

This will be the second election in the state in nine months and sets to rest speculation if elections would take place in view of a petition in the SC challenging the dissolution of the Assembly. The three-member Election Commission, headed by B.B. Tandon, today decided that the exercise would be spread over two-and-a-half months, from the clamping of model code of conduct today to counting of votes on November 22. The process would end on November 23 with the notification of results.

CEC B.B. Tandon said: ‘‘The gap between second and third phase was maximum (18 days) as a number of holidays (including Dussehra, Id and Diwali) fell within this period.’’ Tandon said the schedule took into account availability of Central paramilitary forces, law and order, communication systems, condition of roads etc.

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In the first phase, polling will take place in 61 constituencies in 11 districts, including four of Patna. Naxal-influenced areas would be covered in the first phase. Another 69 constituencies in 11 districts will vote on October 26. The third phase on November 13 will cover 41 constituencies in 11 flood-prone districts. The last phase will cover 41, including nine Patna constituencies, in four districts.

Describing the law and order situation as ‘‘not happy’’, he said on July 17, the state government submitted a list of 27,123 persons against whom non-bailable warrants were pending.

The response

		Scheduling conflict for Cong NEW DELHI: The schedule has put a question mark over the Congress plenary, to be held at Hyderabad from October 20 to 22. The Congress chief ministers’ conference, slated for the third week of this month, is also uncertain now. May cause fatigue: BJP NEW DELHI: ‘‘It would be a stretched out exercise for parties and may cause fatigue but it would be good if it leads to effective movement of security personnel, ‘’ party general secretary Arun Jaitley said. EC’s right: Nitish PATNA: ‘‘We had demanded one-day elections, preferably in October. Even though it will require a lot of energy, we welcome the dates announced by EC,’’ Senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar said. RJD battle-ready: Laloo PATNA: RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav said his party was ‘‘battle-ready’’. ‘‘I welcome the announcement of the Election Commission to hold elections in the state in four phases. RJD is always ready for the fight to inflict a crushing defeat on communal and fascist forces,’’ he said.