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Bihar election: Counting begins on 243 seats; results likely to be delayed The exercise will decide the electoral fate of over 3,700 candidates who are in the race to win the 243 seats of the state assembly
Bihar Elections 2020: Counting of votes got under way Tuesday morning for the three-phase Bihar assembly elections that may herald a new era in state politics, with exit polls predicting a victory for the RJD-led Grand Alliance. The exercise will decide the electoral fate of over 3,700 candidates who are in the race to win the 243 seats of the state assembly. Counting started at 8 am at 55 centres spread across 38 districts amid tight security and precautions to avoid the spread of COVID19 pandemic during the process. Over 57 per cent of about 7.30
crore electors have exercised their franchise in what is the first major election in the country since the onset of the pandemic. Votes are also being simultaneously counted for the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha by-poll, which was necessitated by the death of JD(U) MP Baidyanath Mahto. Officials said the trends and results might be delayed a bit this time as the number of polling stations were raised from 72,723 earlier to 1,06,515, an increase of 46.5 per cent, to ensure adherence to social distancing measures in view of the pandemic‌