Bihar eagerly waits assembly by-poll results

Around 3,000 Central Para Military Force and Bihar Military Police personnel have been deployed to secure the counting centres

The stage is all set for the results to assembly by-election on 10 seats tomorrow, touted by political pundits as 'semi-final' before the full-fledged assembly elections scheduled next year.

The counting centres are ready, and all eyes will be on them to know not only about the fate of 94 candidates sealed in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), but also to understand which direction the political wind is blowing in Bihar.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer R Lakshmanan said vigorous, three-tier security arrangements have been made at the counting centres located at district headquarters of the respective assembly seats.

"Counting will begin at 8am tomorrow. Around 3,000 Central Para Military Force (CPMF) and Bihar Military Police (BMP) personnel have been deployed to secure the counting centres. Counting personnel have been trained and sent to their respective locations," said Lakshmanan.

The Additional CEO also said the results software developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is in place and a trial run will be conducted tomorrow at 6 am to ensure that there are no glitches once the counting starts. The trends will be available from the first hour of the counting itself.

The by-polls to the 10 assembly constituencies - Hajipur, Chapra, Mohiuddinagar, Parbatta, Bhagalpur, Rajnagar (SC), Jale, Mohania (SC), Narkatiaganj, Banka - on August 21 were necessitated after representatives to five of them got elected to the Lok Sabha, while the rest fell vacant due to resignations.

The voters turnout was around 47% during the bypoll.