Patna, Nov 14 (UNI) Amid elaborate security arrangements, counting of votes began at 8 AM on Friday at 46 centres in the state after two phase Bihar assembly elections held on November 6 and 11.
A total of 46 counting centres in 38 districts headquarters have been set up across Bihar.
Arrangements have been made for counting of votes of all 243 assembly seats, where fates of 2616 candidates including Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha were sealed by electorate during pollling on November 6 and 11. A total of 27 other cabinet Ministers are also in fray.
As per guidelines issued by Election Commission, counting of postal ballot papers would begin first at 8 AM and then votes polled in EVMs would be taken up at 8:30 AM for counting.
As per arrangements made, counting of postal ballots would be held in presence of Returning Officers or Assistant Returning Officers and representatives of contesting candidates.
Returning Officers (ROs) would have the responsibility to upload details of counting of votes on official portal of Election Commission after every round. Counting of VVPATs could also be taken up in some cases, if required.
Trends are expected around 9 a.m. and the final result is expected this afternoon in most of the seats.
Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) along with security personnel of Bihar police have been deployed at all centers where the EVMs and VVPAT machines are stored in the strong rooms , which were under round-the-clock CCTV surveillance.
The prominent personalities whose fates would be declared include both Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha.
Fates of other 27 Ministers would also be known including Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Shravan Kumar, Mangal Pandey, Madan Sahni, Nitin Nabin, Maheshwar Hazari, Sunil Kumar, and Leshi Singh.
Other prominent contenders include Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Grand Alliance, his elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav, former union Ministers Ram Kripal Yadav and Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, former Assembly Speakers Uday Narayan Choudhary and Awadh Bihari Choudhary and former Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad.
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had bagged 125 seats with BJP winning 74, JD(U) 43, and VIP and HAM(S) four each. The Grand Alliance had bagged 110 seats, with RJD winning 75, Congress 19, and CPI(ML) 12, while other smaller parties and independents shared the remaining seats.
