CEC, ECs to visit Bihar, review poll preparedness on October 4-5

Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and election commissioners Vivek Joshi and S S Sandhu will visit Patna for two days beginning Saturday to review poll preparedness in Bihar, officials said.

The term of the 243-member Bihar assembly ends on November 22 and polls in the state are likely to be held in multiple phases beginning at the end of this month and in November.

It is common practice for the poll authority to visit states before announcing the election schedule.

The CEC and election commissioners will be in the state on October 4 and 5, the officials said on Friday.

The EC meets representatives of political parties and top police, administrative and state poll officials while reviewing election readiness.

A briefing of general, police and expenditure observers appointed by the election commission (EC) for the Bihar polls is underway here.

The special intensive revision (SIR) of voters' list in Bihar has concluded and the final electoral roll, published on September 30, has nearly 7.42 crore electors.

The SIR, conducted after a gap of over two decades, has come under sharp criticism from opposition parties who have claimed that it will disenfranchise crores of genuine citizens.

The EC has asserted that it will not allow any eligible citizen to be left out of the voters' list and at the same time, no ineligible person will be on the list.