As Bihar votes, BJP minister Prem Kumar wears party mask to polling booth; EC orders FIR

In a gross violation of Model Code of Conduct, Bihar Minister and BJP leader Prem Kumar on Wednesday wore a mask bearing his party's symbol as he went to cast his vote. The Election Commission has asked Gaya DM to lodge FIR against Prem Kumar for violation of model code of conduct. Prem Kumar is seeking reelection from Gaya town and is pitted against Congress' Akhauri Onkar Nath. In the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls, Kumar won the seat comfortably against Congress' Priya Ranjan. At present, he is also in charge of the Agriculture and Animal and Fisheries Resources portfolios in the NDA government in the state. 

As per the Election Commission of India, Section 130 of the Representation of the People Act, 1g51 inter-alia provides that no person shall canvass for votes or exhibit any notice or signs relating to the election within the polling station on the day of poll. The EC also states that wearables like caps, shawl etc with political party's name, symbol or slogan are not allowed inside the polling stations on the poll day. This is applicable on counting day as well. 

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Bihar assembly elections 2020

The Bihar Assembly has a strength of 243 members out of which 38 seats are reserved for SC and two for ST. In the 2015 state polls, the Mahagatbandhan comprising RJD, JD(U) and Congress won a whopping majority with 178 seats under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. On the other hand, the BJP-led alliance won from only 58 constituencies. On July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar stepped down as the CM citing irreconcilable differences with RJD over corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav and joined hands with its former ally BJP.

Polling in 71 seats is underway and the other two phases of the Bihar election are on November 3 and November 7, and the results will be announced on November 10. The Election Commission of India stated that 7 lakh hand sanitizers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields and 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have been arranged for the election. To observe the COVID-19 prevention norms, each polling booth will have less than 1000 voters. To decongest polling stations further, the voting time has been increased by one hour. Thus, people will be able to cast their votes from 7 am to 6 pm barring for the areas affected by Left-wing extremism. 

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