Five-phase Bihar polls from October 12

Counting of votes will be held on November 8.

Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, flanked by Election Commissioners Achal Kumar Jyoti (left) and Om Prakash Rawat, addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Bihar will have five-phase Assembly elections between October 12 and November 5 and the counting of votes will take place on November 8.

Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said on Wednesday that polls to the 243-seat Assembly would be held on October 12, 16, 28, November 1 and 5.

The term of the current Assembly expires on November 29.

'Will ensure peace'

Noting that a number of important festivals such as Dussehra, Eid, Muharram, Diwali and Chhath fell in the election period, he said the Commission would ensure communal harmony and peace.

Flanked by Election Commissioners Achal Kumar Jyoti and Om Prakash Rawat, Mr. Zaidi told a press conference that more than adequate security arrangements have been made by the election body to ensure peaceful, free and fair polls in the State where over 47 constituencies are hit by Naxal violence.

There are over 6.68 crore voters in the State.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and the grand alliance of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his foe-turned-friend Lalu Prasad and the Congress are locked in a close fight with the election results likely to have a strong bearing on the national political scene.

Must-win for BJP

The polls have been billed as a must-win for the BJP if it is to restore the political momentum in favour of the Narendra Modi government after suffering reverses over a host of issues, starting from its rout in the Delhi Assembly polls and failure to push ahead with reforms like the land bill and the GST.