Bihar election dates to be announced soon

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05 Sep 2010 05:04:00 PM IST

Last Updated : 05 Sep 2010 05:10:52 PM IST

With the Election Commission (EC) likely to announce the election schedule of bihar assembly polls in the next few days. Political parties will don the battle-gear for the electoral tussle this year, which could very well determine the future of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his LJP counterpart Ram Vilas Paswan.

According to sources, the EC has already worked out details to hold elections for 243-seats in the eastern state in five phases and is likely to make a formal announcement to this regard in the coming days.

After visiting Bihar this month Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi and Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath had held detailed meetings with federal home secretary G.K. Pillai and heads of various central police forces to discuss deployment of central forces in the sensitive areas for violent elections in the past.

Polling for the first phase can be expected to be held in early October and likely to be extended over to early November .In the elections held in November, 2005, RJD, confronted with the growing voter disaffection which had been piling up during its 15-year stint in power, was handed a resounding rebuff, culminating in the coronation of Nitish Kumar as Bihar chief minister.Nitish Kumar will be seeking to win a second consecutive term in the state.