Election Commission to review Bihar poll preparations

PATNA - The full Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner S. Y. Quraishi will hold discussions with representative of different political parties today to review preparations for the Bihar Assembly polls.

During the two-day visit, Quraishi along with the two other commissioners-V.S. Sampath and H.S. Brahma-will take stock of arrangements being made for the smooth conduct of the six phase poll.

The Commission will also hold discussions with district magistrates and senior police officials of the state.

This is the first visit of the full Election Commission to Bihar after dates for the Assembly elections were announced last month.

For the first time, the Election Commission is setting up a monitoring division headed by a senior official to check the use of money power during the poll process.

The six-phase poll for 243 seats begins from October 21 and concludes November 20

The first phase of elections will take place on October 21 for 47 state assembly seats, the second phase on October 24 for 45 seats, the third phase on October28 for 48 seats, the fourth on November1 for 42 seats, the fifth phase on November 9 for 25 seats and the sixth and last phase on November 20 for 26 seats.

Counting of votes will take place on November 24.

Bihar has over 5.5 crore voters, who will exercise their franchise through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). (ANI)