New Delhi [India]: To ensure the smooth and orderly progress of the various phases of elections in Bihar, around 8.5 lakh election officials have been deployed, said the Election Commission of India (ECI) in a press note on Thursday. The Bihar Assembly election will be conducted in two phases, covering all 243 constituencies. The first phase of polling will be on November 6 for 121 constituencies, while the second phase on November 11 will cover the remaining 122. The counting of votes will take place on November 14.

The personnel to be deployed include nearly 4.53 lakh Polling Personnel, 2.5 lakh Police Officials, 28,370 Counting Personnel, 17,875 Micro Observers, 9,625 Sector Officers, 4,840 Micro Observers for counting and upto 90,712 Anganwadi Sevikas may also be deployed, said the ECI.

The election machinery, including 90,712 BLOs and 243 EROs is available for the voters on a phone call and through the Book-a-call to BLO facility on the ECINet App. Call centre number +91 (STD Code) 1950 is also available for registering any complaint/query at the DEO/RO level, the ECI informed.

All the personnel deployed shall be deemed to be on deputation to the Election Commission as per the provisions of Section 28A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

In a first, one General Observer has been deployed for each of the 243 Constituencies in Bihar to function as the eyes and ears of the Commission. In addition, 38 Police Observers and 67 Expenditure Observers have also been deployed. The Observers will station in their respective Constituencies and meet political parties/candidates on a regular basis to address their concerns, said the ECI.

In the Bihar Assembly election, the NDA led by the BJP and JD(U) will be up against the INDIA bloc, led by Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, the Congress, the CPI (ML) led by Deepankar Bhattacharya, the CPI, the CPM, and Mukesh Sahani's Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP). The new entrant, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj, has also staked claims on all 243 seats of the state.

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