Election Commission team visits Patna to observe Bihar poll preparations

Patna: A team of Election Commission officials visited Patna to take stock of poll preparations on Wednesday, ahead of the Bihar Assembly election.

The EC team has also asked for suggestions from all political parties and individual candidates about each and every constituency and polling booth in Bihar.

The representatives of various parties have submitted their suggestions to the team.

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Bihar unit has pointed out that the state has many places adjacent to rivers like Ganga, Sone, Gandak, Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Kosi, Burhi Gandak and others.

"As those places are surrounded by sand, reaching those places is extremely difficult for police of respective areas. In last few elections, we have observed that money and other illegal items are transported through boats and distributed among voters. Hence, we have demanded patrolling through horse riders, two days before the day of polling. Election Commission must also ensure flag march of paramilitary forces 24 hours before polling," said Radhika Raman, convener of BJP election cell.

"We have demanded installation of CCTV cameras at every polling booth to prevent rigging," she said.

"We have also urged EC to clarify polling arrangement in Covid containment zones. In a bid to follow social distancing, we have urged 15 vehicles in a convoy of every candidate for poll campaign. The EC has allowed only 5 vehicles," Raman said.

15 vehicles could be tricky for EC as candidates could misuse it. Monitoring the activities of individual candidates could be a difficult task for the commission especially in remote areas. Bihar is spread over 94,163 sq kms with 38 districts and 243 constituencies.

Since the Bihar Assembly election is to be held in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, the opposition RJD has demanded insurance for every voter.

"We have demanded adequate medical arrangements at every polling booth with distribution of face masks and voter slips to voters," said Chitranjan Gagan, state spokesperson of RJD.

"We have also urged EC to install polling booths in the places where SC, ST, OBC and minority people are in majority. The idea is to avoid being influenced by other persons," Gagan said.