New Delhi, Sep 25 (UNI) Elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly will be held in three phases, on October 28, November 3 and November 7, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced on Friday.

The counting of votes will be held on November 10, the CEC announced at a press conference held at Vigyan Bhavan.

With the announcement of the elections to the state Assembly, the Model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect, Mr Arora said.

The Chief Election commissioner said that special norms have been drawn up for the campaigning during the elections .

‘’Social distancing norms will have to be followed at public gatherings during the election campaign,'’he said.

Voting time has also been increased by one hour in view of the raging Covid pandemic, he said.

‘’To further decongest polling stations and allow more free movement of voters, polling time has been increased by 1 hour. It'll be held from 7 am-6 pm, instead of 7 am-5 pm earlier,’’ Mr Arora said.

He said that Covid patients who have been quarantined will be able to cast their vote on the last date of polling under the supervision of health authorities.

"Over 7 lakh hand sanitisers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh units of faces-shields, 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have been arranged,"he said.

The term of Assembly in the state of Bihar is due to expire on November 29, 2020.

Bihar Assembly has a strength of 243 members, of whom 38 seats are reserved for SCs and two for STs, Mr Arora said.

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