New Delhi, September 29, 2020: The Election Commission announced by-polls for one Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, and 56 Assembly constituencies spread across several states on Tuesday.
The EC announced by-polls for Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.
The Commission, however, decided not to hold Assembly by-polls in seven seats spread across the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and West Bengal after receiving requests from them.
“The Commission has received inputs expressing difficulties in the conduct of elections and issues related to it from Chief Secretaries/Chief Electoral Officers from four states, viz, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal… In view of the above, the Commission has decided not to announce the conduct of elections at this stage in the above seven vacancies in legislative assemblies of these states,” the note by Senior Principal Secretary, ECI, read.
Meanwhile, the date of issue of Gazette notification for by-polls to 54 Assembly seats in various states, except Manipur, is October 10, while the last date of filing nominations is October 16, and date for withdrawal is October 19.
In the two Assembly seats of Manipur, and one Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, the date for issue of Gazette notification is October 13, while last date of filing nominations October 20, and for withdrawal of nominations is October 23.
The date of polls has been set as November 3 for all states, and November 7 for Manipur and the parliamentary seat in Bihar. The date for counting of votes has been set as November 10.
The EC also said that the guidelines issued by it on August 21, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, are to be followed strictly during the by-polls.
The Commission said that for those states in which the elections are to be held adequate number of EVMS and VVPATs have been made available.
