Bihar Elections 2020: EC doubles campaign broadcast time for parties on DD & AIR

Ahead of the Bihar elections, the Election Commission of India (EC), doubled the broadcast/telecast time allotted to each party on Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) during campaigning amid the ongoing pandemic. As per the circular issued by EC, a base time of 90 minutes will be given to each party and additional time will be allotted as per the poll performance of the party in the 2015 state polls. Bihar will vote in 3 phases - October 28, November 3, and November 7, with the results being declared on November 10.

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EC extends party's broadcast time

As per the circular, parties have been allotted broadcast time accordingly -Trinamool (90 minutes), BSP (119 minutes), BJP (427 minutes), CPI (109 minutes), CPI-M (98 minutes), Congress (182 minutes), NCP (97 minutes), NPP (90 minutes), JDU (323 minutes), LJSP (157 minutes), RJD (343 minutes) and RLSP (125 minutes). EC has also mandated that no party be given more than 30 minutes in a single session. Parties will be required to submit transcripts and recordings in advance, as per EC guidelines.

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Ram Vilas Paswan no more

Taking to Twitter, LJP president and Paswan's son Chirag confirmed that Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan passed away at a hospital in the national capital on Thursday. Since the last few weeks, the veteran political leader hailing from Bihar had been hospitalized. He underwent heart surgery on October 4. He was 74.

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Seat sharing formula

The NDA- led by BJP poll-in-charge Devendra Fadnavis has faced a revolt from LJP, which has decided to contest separately claiming ideological differences with JD(U). Snubbing them, BJP has reaffirmed Nitish Kumar as its CM candidate and has released its seat-share with JD(U) with BJP keeping 121 seats for itself out of which 11 seats will be given to Mukesh Sahni-led Vikassheel Insaan Party. On the other hand, JD(U) will field its candidates in only 115 constituencies whereas Hindustani Awam Morcha has been given the go-ahead in 7 seats- Kasba, Makhdumpur, Kutumba, Imamganj, Barachatti, Tikari and Sikandra. LJP has stated that it will not field its candidates against BJP and is open for a post-poll coalition.

Similarly, Mahagathbandhan which saw initial revolt from Congress finally agreed to a 144-70 seat-share formula with Congress,  and three other Communist parties contesting on 29 seats, announcing Tejashwi Yadav as its CM face. BJP, JDU, Congress, RJD, JMM have already released their list of candidates. The NDA and Mahagathbandhan face three coalitions -  'Progressive Democratic Alliance' (PDA) - comprising of JAP, AJP, SDP, BMP, and Grand Democratic Secular Front - comprising of AIMIM, RLSP, BSP, SJDD and SBSP.

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