Bihar Elections 2020: State gears up for political rallies amid coronavirus pandemic

Patna, Oct 10: With Bihar all set to witness India's first direct polls later this month amid the coronavirus pandemic, the state government has come up with certain guidelines to check the spread of the novel virus during the election process, including political rallies.

The state government has said that the political leaders will have to wear a mask while holding elections rallies in Bihar and also need to maintain social distancing.

According to the guidelines issued by the home department, wearing face masks at all indoor and outdoor rallies with a ceiling of 200 persons in closed halls and maintaining social distancing of six feet is mandatory for the leaders.

Hugging and shaking hands have to be avoided at the rallies and the organisers have been asked to make proper arrangement of paper napkins and ensure santisation of the venues.

Also, the Election Commission (EC) doubled the broadcast time allotted to recognised political parties in Bihar on Doordarshan and All India Radio during the Assembly polls in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the enhanced relevance of "non-contact based" campaign.

"A base time of 90 minutes will be given to each national party and recognised state party of Bihar uniformly on the regional kendras of Doordarshan network and All India Radio network in Bihar," the poll body said.

The facilities will be available from the regional centre of All India Radio and Doordarshan and relayed by other stations within Bihar, it said.

The decision to allot additional time to a party has been taken on the basis of its poll performance in the last Bihar Assembly election in 2015. No party will be allocated more than 30 minutes in a single broadcast session.