E-Paper
Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Bihar to vote in seven phases from April 11-May 19
Lok Sabha Elections 2019: About 15.50 lakh new voters in the age bracket of 18-19 years will exercise their franchise in Bihar during the seven phase polling, scheduled to begin on April 11 for 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Amid the heightened surveillance on social and electronic media for ensuring moden code of conduct that came into effect from today with the announcement of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll dates, about 15.50 lakh new voters in the age bracket of 18-19 years will exercise their franchise during the seven phase polling, scheduled to begin on April 11 for 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Over seven crore voters are set to cast their votes at 72,723 booths spread across the state during the elections, the results of which would be announced on May 23.
Four constituencies—Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui—will go the poll in the first phase on April 11. Polling for Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur and Banka will go to poll in the second phase on April 18, while polling in other five constituencies like Jhanjhapur, Supaul, Araria, Madhupura and Khagaria will be held in the third phase on April 23.
Voting on five other seats— Darbhanga, Ujiyarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai and Munger— will take place in the fourth phase on April 29, while electors residing in other five constituencies— Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, and Hajipur will vote in the fifth phase on May 6. Eight constituencies will go to the polls in the sixth and seventh phase each on May 12 and May 19 respectively. Valmikinagar, West Champaran, East Champaran, Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan and Maharajganj will go polls in the sixth phase, while voting will take place in the rest of the constituencies—Nalanda, Patna Saheb, Patliputra, Ara, Buzar, Sasaram, Karakat and Jehanabad in the last phase.
Along with it, by-elections for two assembly seats, Dehri and Nawada, will also take place. Both the seats fell vacant after conviction of the RJD leaders, Iliyas Hussan and Raj Ballabh Yadav, whose were divested of their right to contest due to their sentences by the courts.
Chief election officer, Bihar, HR Srinivasan said that every instance of violation of the model code of conduct, which came in to force this evening after the announcement of the election dates, would be enforced vigorously on mainstream as well as social media. “Now, any political leader or his or her party needs to take clearance of any sort of advertisement, along with cost details, from the district or state level media certification centres before sending them to electronic channels or social media platforms,” said Srinivasan.
“In case of disapproval, parties or leaders may go for appeal before the high-level committee headed by the ECO. Dissatisfied by the CEO’S rejection, the leaders or the party may approach the Supreme Court,” said Srinivasan, adding that an eight-member team of social media experts would be monitoring the social media handles for violation of the election codes.
Over 7 crore will vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
