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Left and Congress ask the TMC-led Bengal government to prove majority and want the Assembly to convene

Asking the TMC-led Bengal government to prove its majority on the floor of the House, Opposition parties in the state-CPI(M) and Congress  have demanded calling of the Assembly session as early as possible. The demand was raised by the two Opposition parties amid defections of high-profile Trinamool MLAs in the past weeks. The most recent heavyweight to defect TMC was the minister Suvendu Adhikari.

“Many Trinamool MLAs have joined the BJP or have resigned from the party. Now, the Trinamool Congress leaders are afraid of any voting taking place in the Assembly. They should immediately call the Assembly session and prove their majority on the floor of the House,” Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Abdul Mannan and CPI(M) Legislative Party leader Sujan Chakraborty said at a press meet. The Assembly elections in the state are likely to be held between April and May, and the CPI(M) and Congress have formed an alliance to contest the elections together.

The two leaders also said that there are also many issues that need discussion in the House. “There are many issues happening in the country and the state also. But the ruling party is not eager to debate those issues in the Assembly,” MLA Mannan said.

“The TMC government has taken many decisions which have political and financial implications. So, the government must explain them in the Assembly,” Chakraborty added.

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For Bengal election, Congress and the Left front form alliance with the INC high command giving official confirmation

The high command of the Indian National Congress has formally approved an alliance with the Left Front for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, state party chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Thursday.

In October this year, the CPM central committee had decided that the party and the Left front would have an electoral understanding with the Indian national Congress to fight against the ruling Trinamool Congress and an aggressive BJP in West Bengal, where both the CPM and Congress have been facing an existential crisis.

Also see: Trilateral fight in West Bengal election 2021

In November, after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s online meeting with Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and some other state leaders, sources had said that the party would begin seat-sharing talks with the Left Front after interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave the green signal.

Though the seat-sharing talks before the last Assembly polls and the 2019 Lok Sabha election, when the two sides failed to reach an agreement were not plain sailing, Congress reaped the benefits both the times in terms of seats won as it has a high concentration of voters in select constituencies in north Bengal.

Also see: Battleground of Bengal election 2021

The Left Front had failed to win a single seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, losing security deposits in 39 constituencies while the Congress had bagged just two seats, losing security deposits in 38 other constituencies. On the other hand, the BJP had won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats, only four behind TMC’s 22 seats, announcing itself as a formidable force in the Bengal political arena.

In 2016 Bengal assembly polls, the Left Front and Congress together had won 76 out of 294 seats in West Bengal after garnering about 38 percent vote share. The Left Front received 26 percent of the votes, while the Congress got only 12 percent. Despite such a low vote share, Congress won 44 seats, while the Left Front managed to bag only 32.

In the meeting last month, the Pradesh Congress leaders had unanimously argued for the alliance. The discussions to firm it up got delayed following the party’s electoral setback in Bihar. The Congress high command took special note of the party’s depleting vote share in Bengal, which was down to 6.29 percent in 2019, while the BJP’s was 40 percent and the Trinamool Congress’ was at 43 percent.

Needs and benefits of a three-way alliance between TMC, Congress, and the Left

BJP has gone to the Bengal which goes to the poll in the early half of 2021, with all guns blazing. It has parked there, the head of its IT Cell. A Bengal-specific division of the raucous Republic TV, which peddles the BJP narrative, has been bankrolled with the channel/ media outlet recruiting locals into its wing.   TMC, BJP, and a CPM-Congress combine have hinted that they will fight each other in the polls. But facts and the political winds are chiming one simple arithmetic, that there cannot be a three-way election in 2021. That would mean an advantage for BJP, as it will cannibalize on the factionalism in the former and on the irrelevance of the latter. If the BJP is to be defeated, the TMC and the Left-Congress combine must come together to form a strategic alliance. There is immediate and successful precedence of coalition victory in Maharashtra, while Bihar’s scenario can give hopes of a non-BJP future.

Such a three-way alliance is going to ensure, mathematically speaking, an unassailable political behemoth. It will also be electorally insurmountable even if the BJP unleashes its most diabolic campaign. An alliance will also cut down on cost, disincentivize defection and allegations of dynasticism in TMC. It would also minimize the political violence that Bengal routinely witnesses before polls. These are quantifiable gains on which the three, i.e. TMC, Congress, and Left led by CPIM must think. Such a strategic and timely alliance would successfully turn the tables on BJP’s spin doctors, while ensuring that Bengal does not suffer the ignominy of having fallen to the ultra-right and the false pretense of narrow-minded nationalism with a strong tinge of communalism.

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Ahmed Patel dies at the age of 71, Congress mourns the ‘true loss’

Ahmed Patel dies

Covid-19 crisis has taken away many lives this year, including some of the great politicians, celebrities, and other famous personalities globally. On November 25, Congress leader – Ahmed Patel died suffering from Covid-19-related complications.

Patel was not just another politician in the Congress party but was considered to be the backbone and a sharp crisis manager of the party, especially for the president – Sonia Gandhi. The Gandhi family had always relied upon Patel for important decisions and strategies in their favour for years. He was one of the most powerful and influential personalities of the Congress, who knew exactly how and when to execute his powers with caution to make the best out of any situation. His death has left the party and its president shattered by his loss.

Patel was the political secretary and advisor to Sonia Gandhi since she became the president of Congress in 1998 and was called as her ‘gatekeeper’, protecting and advising her throughout her political career. He acted as the ‘key link’ between the Congress and the UPA ruled government and was one of the main decision-makers when Gandhi became the party president.

The congressmen described Patel as a loyal and faithful friend and colleague who stood by the party people through thick and thin. Whatever the party has achieved so far, in terms of building strong relations with other political parties, it was only possible because of Patel. He was also the bridge between the old and the young people within the party and made them work together, eradicating the generation gap and building Congress as a strong political party.

The party people are truly saddened by Patel’s demise and describe his death as a ‘true loss’ for the party. Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “It is a sad day. Shri Ahmed Patel was a pillar of the Congress party. He lived and breathed Congress and stood with the party through its most difficult times. He was a tremendous asset. We will miss him. My love and condolences to Faisal, Mumtaz & the family.”

Sonia Gandhi said – “In Sh. Ahmed Patel, I have lost a colleague, whose entire life was dedicated to the Congress Party. His faithfulness and dedication, his commitment to his duty, his always being there to help, his generosity were rare qualities that distinguished him from others. I have lost an irreplaceable comrade, a faithful colleague, and a friend. I mourn his passing and I feel deeply for his bereaved family to whom I offer my sincere feelings of empathy and support.”

Ahmed Patel was born in an agriculture-based family in Gujarat in 1949. He began his political career by contesting the local body elections in the Bharuch district of Gujarat in 1976. He had served as the parliamentary secretary to the former Prime Minister of India – Rajiv Gandhi. He recently had been the political secretary to Sonia Gandhi and also the treasurer of the All India Congress Committee. He died on the morning of November 25 in Medanta, the Medicity  hospital in Gurugram, Haryana at the age of 71.

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Sonia Gandhi says that Bihar is in a state of suffering under an arrogant government

Recently, just before the beginning of Bihar polls, Congress president Sonia Gandhi stated that change is in the air in Bihar. Mrs. Gandhi, in a four and half minute-long video, which was released a day before the polling for the first phase of the assembly election, had also attacked the NDA (National Democratic alliance) backed government in the state for its failed governance that led to anguish among the people.

INC president Mrs.Gandhi appealed in the video to the people of Bihar to vote for the “Mahagathbandhan” or grand alliance. She asserted that the government in Bihar is engrossed in crave for power and that it has become supercilious and has roamed away from its path. She added, “Neither its action nor its words are good. The workers are quite helpless, farmers are suffering and young people are disappointed. The effects of demonetization and the current brittle state of the economy are affecting the lives of the people.”

She further added in her speech that Dalits, Mahadalits and backward sections of the society have been left on the edge of penury and destitution. She further stated in her message that the grand alliance of the congress is actually the representative of “Bihar today”. The grand alliance consists of RJD, Congress, Left parties, and other parties with similar ideological orientations. The first phase of voting took place on Wednesday in 71 of the 243 assembly seats in the state. The second phase of polling is fixed on November 3 and the third phase is slated for November 7, and the result will be declared on November 10.

Mrs. Gandhi also elaborated that Bihar has the skill, talent, and also the capabilities, and yet unemployment is on the rise, with migration, inflation, and starvation still giving the people only tears and blisters on their feet. In a note of connection to the people, she stated that Bihar is a mirror of India and that it is also an aspiration and pride of India. She also added that today Bihar is getting ready for a change for its glory and future. Here, in her speech, she reiterated her point about “Change in the air”.

In reply to the assertions and appeals by INC, BJP’s national spokesperson Guruprakash told that the congress as no locus standi to make any comments on Bihar as the state had horrible years under the rule of its poll partner RJD. In a parallel development in the same story of Bihar polls, the PM had tried to bring the attention on alleged jungle raj under RJD, and had hinted that the LJP is not in the BJP-JD(U) alliance.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.

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Need for Shiv Sena to gain entry into Bihar Politics- is it due to SSR issue or due to workers coming from Bihar

As soon as the election commission announced the dates for Bihar elections, the Shiv Sena of Maharashtra announced its ‘son of the soil’ agenda for the Bihar polls. It becomes prudent to observe the political backdrop of entry of the Shiv Sena into Bihar polls because of three reasons.

The first reason is that recently the country saw a national spat in the “justice for SSR” wagon, where Shiv Sena, BJP and the Bihar formed the three sides of the conflict. People from Bihar, including fans of Rajput, kept demanding for justice for Sushant Singh. This nationally escalated debate becomes significant due to two causalities: Sushant was from Bihar, and he was from a higher caste category; and caste plays a crucial role in identity politics in Bihar. This SSR issue led to spilling of the nexus among players in different B-town scams. These scams are of various types like nepotism and talent management schemes in Bollywood. It also hinted at a subsurface fight between the ShivSena and the regime at the centre which played out in the provision of Y category security for Kangana Ranaut. In this whole issue, Kangana Ranaut came as the face of the lobby calling out for ‘justice for SSR’. Some suspect that she was nothing but the empathy gatherer for the BJP among the Bihar’s populace, while others believe that she has just been exposing the internal fiascos in Bollywood. All of this led to an aggravating relationship between the Shiv Sena and the Hindi heartland people, especially in Bihar.

The second reason is the pressing issue of Shiv Sena which stresses on the need to employ predominantly the local Marathi youth in any projects or works which are being developed in the state outside the core strategic sectors controlled by the GOI. This idea has been the cradle of the ShivSena and its more assertive spin-off, the MNS. It has been observed by certain sections of media that the ShivSena might be looking towards Bihar to bring development there, so that youth from Bihar need not go to Maharashtra.

The third reason is the need for political consolidation over the larger national political battleground in a time when anti-incumbency protests are gaining grounds across the nation especially after the farm bills 2020. Farmers unions in Maharashtra are majorly owned and controlled by NCP and Congress, which shrinks the moral ground for the SS to fight on this issue. ShivSena might have an undeniably strong hold over the overall politics of Maharashtra but they have marginal presence beyond the state with only 12 seats in the current Lok Sabha from the state.

In this background, the Bihar Unit of Shiv Sena wanted to contest on 100 seats in the upcoming Bihar polls. But sources inside SS indicated that the party will contest on around 50 seats in the state polls. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray had declared that he would campaign for the Shiv Sena candidates in the Bihar polls. The party has recently released a list of 22 leaders who would campaign in Bihar.

On the larger national politico-psychological map, though the Shiv Sena has parted ways with BJP, it is still adherent to certain similar core principles like BJP, which cannot be unseen if one listens to their speeches or reads their articles in Saamna. It can very certainly be the case that BJP and SS have decided to keep the balance of power hidden between New Delhi and Mumbai which will disallow any third party to take advantage of the equation. But this thought does not have that much weight given that the government in Mumbai is being run by an alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress which allowed the ShivSena to get its own CM. Giving away the seat of CM to Shiv Sena was specifically denied by BJP which was one of the reasons of the breaking of the BJP- SS alliance. Also recently, the country witnessed the tussle between the Governor of the Maharashtra, who is allegedly aligned with BJP, with the Maharashtra CM over keeping the temples open. The CM made a sound decision of keeping the temples closed keeping in mind that the state is still under the grasp of the Covid19, on which the governor took a jibe.

Probably to keep a hold over the home bastion in Maharashtra, the ShivSena made a compromise and to some extent diluted their ideological stance. This was indicated when the Apex court of the country gave the Ayodhya verdict in November 2019. At that time, Uddhav Thackeray stated that Hindus should celebrate but without hurting anybody’s sentiments.

By making its entry in the Bihar’s political space, it wants to highlight how the JD(U) has been unable to bring development to the state of Bihar, which drives countless of people from Bihar to work in other states as migrant workers and labourers.  This is a kind of applying the ‘son of the soil’ ideology in an inverted format over Bihar. It must not be forgotten that as dates for the Bihar polls were announced by the Election commission of India, the SS had declared that it would begin its campaign for the Bhoomiputra. It is visibly trying to be the part of an alliance which will bring development in Bihar so that the state’s youth need not go to Maharashtra and take space in the employment domains in cities like Mumbai, Nagpur, and Pune. In that case, it can be expected that it would keep its options open in terms of the party with which it sides.

With regards to the confrontation with Kangana over the justice for SSR; this might not have been part of the main deciding calculus for trying to gain entry in Bihar. To what extent this angle has influenced the entry of SS into the Bihar electoral polity would be better understood after  the polls, especially regarding what positional stance SS takes with respect to BJP in the would-be formed Bihar Assembly. At that point of time, if it sides with BJP, that might indicate that Kangana was probably being used as a pawn by the BJP to distract the public from the burning national issues through the SSR issue.

Participation of the ShivSena in the Bihar polls opens up remarkable head turning possibilities given that the mix has parties like Congress, BJP, LJP, RJD, JD(U) and other smaller parties with varied perspectives on Hindutva agenda, Caste factors and development.

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Congress, in the context of Bihar election, strategizes to expose the ongoing disputes among the parties in NDA

Bihar election starting from October 28 is set to enter the first phase of the polls to be held in three-phases. Amidst the political strategies and contesting parties taking each step carefully, Congress has come up with the idea of exposing all the ongoing contradictions within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

After the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) decided to run solo in the elections, breaking off their ties with the Janata Dal (United), the Congress decided to use this window of opportunity left open by the rift.  Although, LJP did not leave the alliance it formed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the assembly polls.

Shakeel Ahmed, Congress leader and former Union Minister said that his party is going to focus on the discords between various parties under the NDA and expose them. He also claims that if BJP comes out as the largest and strongest party in the assembly polls, it might demand to get the Chief Minister’s post, defining it as a “tug-of-war situation’.

According to the seat-sharing strategy, LJP will not be fielding its candidates on the seats which BJP is contesting. The LJP had recently announced its first list of 42 candidates who will be contesting in the first phase of assembly polls in Bihar including Usha Vidyarthi, Rajendra Singh, and Rameshwar Chourasia. Shakeel Ahmed said that Congress will focus upon such contradictions to persuade the JD(U) supporters in their favor and similarly for the confused BJP supporters.

Bhupendra Yadav, the BJP in-charge had, however, dismissed the news of any such disputes taking place within the NDA. He said, “The BJP has only one plan and that is to fight the elections along with the JD (U). We have clearly spelled out that plan. The LJP is not a part of this arrangement because it chose to fight alone. The NDA is fighting for development in Bihar under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and vision. Nitish Kumar is the undisputed chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.”

Congress is yet to disclose the names of its participating candidates in the first phase of elections. But, it had disclosed the names of 21 candidates taking part in the second and third phases of the assembly polls. On Thursday, it shall be announcing the names of 49 remaining candidates to intensify its election campaign headed by Sonia Gandhi, the party chief for Congress.

There have been speculations regarding injustice in the ticket distribution pattern in Congress in the context of the Bihar elections. The party was held responsible for distributing the tickets to some incompetent leaders in the first list they released specifying the candidates. In response to this situation, Rahul Gandhi had to form 6 panels to supervise the preparations done by the party for the upcoming Bihar elections.

Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress general secretary shall be participating in some of the rallies in Bihar along with the former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The results of the Bihar election shall be announced on November 10.

The author is a student member of the Amity Centre of Happiness.

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Rahul Gandhi has gone ahead of the PM in facebook page engagement by 40%

From September 25 to October 2, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Facebook page recorded over 40% more engagements than that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as stated by Congress.

The assessment of the party has been done based on the data mined from Facebook analytics, which allows monitoring of up to five pages. It shows that during this period, Gandhi’s posts have recorded 13.9 million engagements.

The list of four other pages monitored as part of the exercise includes the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), the Congress, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Modi with 45.9 million followers, is one of the top five most followed leaders on social media, whereas Rahul Gandhi has 3.5 million followers on Facebook. According to data obtained by the INC from Facebook analytics, last week Rahul’s recorded engagements were only 8.2 million.

The official page of BJP has 16 million followers, out of which it had responses from 2.3 million people, compared to 3.6 million of the congress. On Facebook, Congress has 5.6 million followers. Growth has been seen in the number of followers of Rahul Gandhi by 3.5% as he had posted 52 times during this period.

Modi had posted 11 times from September 25 to October 2 as he attended major events, and addressed the UN general assembly.

A Congress representative said that the key variable is engagement. He added that although Rahul Gandhi has far fewer followers than Narendra Modi, the former’s engagement levels are much higher and that it includes likes, comments, shares among others. It is a key indicator of how audiences, especially the social media users are relating to the content.

The representative further added that the spike has corresponded with protests against the alleged gang-rape and murder of the 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras. Gandhi has led Congress’s protests from the front. He had managed to meet the woman’s family along with Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday after they were prevented from doing so a day earlier.

The Facebook post of Rahul Gandhi mentioning his meeting with the Hathras victim family had over 450,000 likes as of Monday morning. On issues like the Kheti Bachao Yatra led by Rahul against the farm laws passed in Parliament last month, he had gone live on social media. The other major attraction center for the social media platforms of Rahul Gandhi was the series of video conversations, with global and Indian thought leaders to discuss the Covid-19 crisis and its consequences on the country’s economy.

Dilip Cherian, a communications consultant, said that there may be three factors for the surge in attention to Rahul Gandhi. The first is what is called the Issue factor. The prime minister has not spoken on Hathras issue and engagement by Rahul Gandhi on the same has been very high on Facebook. The second is the ‘newbieness’ factor, which works for Rahul as we have not seen this level of activity from him before; it tends to attract a wider audience. And the third, Cherian added is the ‘anti-establishment’ aspect, wherein people gravitate towards a discourse against the ruling dispensation. He further described that the PM is very consistent in his social media posts. Hence, his lack of engagement on the real issues has led to the surge of attention for Rahul Gandhi who is speaking on the issues.

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New maneuver launched by Congress leaders in the backdrop of Farmers’ protests to regain their political space

On Monday, September 28th, 2020, the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan targeted the Central government as a ‘suit-boot ki Sarkar’, which translates into- “government of rich and elite”.

The taunt came as a direct response to the controversial Farm Bills sanctioned by the BJP-led government, despite the widespread opposition and protests led by the farmers. Chavan described this move of the government as a conspiracy against the farmers across the country.

In his statement on Monday, he said that the Bills were hurriedly passed in the face of protests from opposition, farmer groups and even constituents of the NDA to help the BJP’s corporate cronies. Chavan further added that this is a government for the suit-clad super-rich.

A memorandum had been handed over to the President by a party delegation who met Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the state governor, urging the Farm Bills to be recalled. Subsequently, Chavan had made the statement claiming that the BJP-led Central government is overlooking and neglecting the voice of 62 crore farmers and other political parties supporting their movement.

Many such memoranda have been handed over by various Congress leaders to show their support and reflect their opposition against the unjust bills that are being passed by the government despite such nationwide protests.

A press event took place recently which was attended by Balasaheb Thorat, the state president for Congress, H K Patil, AICC Maharashtra in charge, and Prithviraj Chavan. The meeting was attended by other senior Congress leaders too. The party delegation of Congress that had come to the Raj Bhavan to hand over the memorandum, apart from Chavan included Sushil Kumar Shinde, KC Padvi, Suresh Dhanorkar and Yashomati Thakur.

This memorandum scheme by Congress has been launched as a two-month-long ‘mass-movement’ to regain political space amidst the farmer protests going on against the BJP leaders.

As per the recently obtained details from congress sources, the party will observe October 2nd, 2020, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri as the ‘Kisan Mazdoor Bachao Diwas’. The plan is to collect signatures from APMC laborers and traders, and farmers across the nation which will later be compiled into a detailed memorandum which shall be handed over to the President on November 14th, 2020, the birth anniversary of Jawahar Lal Nehru.

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Congress announces the second list of candidates for assembly by-polls in Madhya Pradesh, caste being a guiding factor

The Congress announced the second list of candidates for the by-polls to be carried on 28 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. The list disclosed by Congress national general secretary Mukul Wasnik comprises names of nine candidates according to the state Congress.

With these nine candidates Congress has disclosed the names of 24 candidates as of now. It published the first list including 15 names on eleventh of September. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to disclose the names of its candidates. The Election Commission of India is yet to publish the dates of the by-polls. Nevertheless, it had recently said that the ballot would be held along with Bihar state assembly polls by November end.

The candidates in the second list include ex-BJP MLA Parul Sahu from Sagar who recently joined the Congress. She will contest from the Surakhi assembly seat in Sagar district that she represented from 2013 to 2018. She was denied a ticket by the BJP in the 2018 assembly elections. From BJP, it is minister for transport and revenue in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet, Govind Rajput who is likely to contest from the seat. Rajput resigned from the seat on 12th of March this year as a Congress MLA to later join the BJP.

Further candidates and the districts for which their candidature has been declared by the Congress comprise Pankaj Upadhyaya from Joura assembly seat, Ajay Kushwaha from Sumaoli, Satish Sikarwar- Gwalior East, Harivallabh Shukla- Pohri, Kanhaiya Ram Lodhi- Mungaoli, Uttam Raj Narain Singh- Mandhata, Abhishek Singh Bana- Badnawar and Rakesh Patidar from Suwasara.

State BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai has said that selection of and announcing the names of candidates are internal matters of the Congress. He added that the list suggests that Congress does not have much choice to select among party leaders and merit of the party leaders has been ignored which will soon be reflected in the rumblings in the party.

In this second list, it seems that the Congress and Kamal Nath have placed their faith in the young faces. But, caste is also among the deciding factors for INC that has guided the announcement of the names in the list. Placing of Ajab Singh Kushwaha, from Sumaoli is an indicator of this decisive factor. Kushwaha had been earlier associated with BSP from the seat in 2008 and 2013. In 2018 he joined BJP before finally coming under the tent of Congress. It is expected that he will face his old rival Aidal Singh Kasana in Sumaoli. Caste will therefore be a guiding factor in the upcoming by-polls.

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EC announces Bihar poll schedule: Polling in 3 phases; COVID-19 patients to cast vote on last day

The Election Commission announced the schedule for Bihar assembly elections today. The state polls will be the first major state election to be held in the middle of coronavirus crisis. The term of the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly comes to an end on November 29.

The Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases, chief election commissioner Sunil Arora announced on Friday. In the first phase, 71 seats will go to polls, 94 seats will be in phase-2 and 78 seats will go to polls in the third phase. Addressing the press conference, he said these will be perhaps the largest election anywhere in the world during Covid-19, and listed precautionary measures taken by the poll panel and authorities.

As the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force, hate speech, fake news, and malicious propaganda will be dealt with harshly, said the CEC. “If required, special observers will also be deployed for expenditure monitoring and law and order contingency etc,” Sunil Arora said.

“Polling stations will have sanitisers, masks, soaps etc in view of the pandemic. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) stands enforced now. Political parties should upload online criminal antecedents of candidates, why they were selected and why those with no such antecedents were not selected,” added CEC Sunil Arora.

“Covid-19 patients who’re quarantined will be able to cast their vote on the last day of poll, at their respective polling stations, under the supervision of health authorities. This is beside the option of postal facility already extended to them,” CEC Sunil Arora said.

He added that the polling time has been increased by one hour and will be held from 7am to 6pm.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who leads a coalition with the BJP, will fight for a fourth term in these polls, with the opposition RJD of jailed former Chief Minister Lalu Yadav and the Congress challenging him.