Bihar panchayat polls schedule announced, nominations from Wednesday

Patna, Aug 24 (IANS) Bihar's State Election Commission on Tuesday announced an 11-phase panchayat elections, with the process kicking from Wednesday.Voting in districts like Bhojpur, Buxar, Patna, Kaimur and Rohtas will be conducted in 10 phases.The notification regarding the election process including nomination, name withdrawal, campaigning was issued by a three member committee of the SEC, and the model code of conduct has been imposed.Candidates can file nominations for the post of mukhiya, sarpanch, ward member, panch, panchayat committee member, and district council member from August 25 to August 31, between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Around 10 lakh candidates are expected to try their luck for 259,260 posts under these categories in the elections.The SEC has decided to conduct elections in districts not affected by floods. The first phase of voting will be on September 24, second on September 30, third on October 8, fourth on October 20, fifth on October 24, sixth on November 3, seventh on November 15, eighth on November 24, ninth on November 29, tenth on December 8, and eleventh on December 12. Counting of votes will be done two days after the voting in each phase.
--IANS ajk/vd