Bihar Assembly Election 2020: List of rules one should follow amid COVID-19

New Delhi, Sep 25: The upcoming Bihar election will be the first Assembly election to be held amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, dates of which will be announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday.

The assembly is slated to lapse in November this year. Several political parties had asked the Commission to defer the elections in the wake of the pandemic.

In August, the Election Commission released a standard guideline to conduct polls and bypolls amind the pandemic. Going by that, campaigning in the run-up to the high-octane Bihar Assembly Elections will be a muted affair this year.

Here are the guidelines that should be followed

• Door-to-door campaign is subject to restrictions. Only five, including the candidate but excluding the security personnel, are allowed for door-to-door campaigning.
• The convoy of vehicles should be broken after every five vehicles instead of 10 vehicles.

• Every person should wear face masks during every election-related activity.
• Thermal screening of all persons. Sanitiser, soap and water to be made available at every booth.
• Large halls should be identified as booths and counting centres so that social distancing can be maintained.
• Nomination forms will be made available online. It can be filled online and its print may be taken out for submitting.
• Candidates can deposit security money online though the cash deposit option will also be there.

• Only two persons can accompany a candidate for submission of nomination.
• Only two vehicles will be allowed during the nomination filing process.

According to reports, the maximum number of voters at a polling station in Bihar has been reduced from 1,500 to 1,000.

Earlier, the EC decided not to extend the postal ballot facility to voters over 65 years, citing challenges and constraints to implement this rule.