Voting in India's Bihar state amid shadow of pandemic

Some 70 million people are eligible to vote in Bihar. PHOTO: AFP

LUCKNOW (India) • The health authorities in one of India's most populous states faced a big test yesterday with the country's first state assembly election being held since the novel coronavirus epidemic began, despite calls to postpone it.

The world's biggest democracy has one of its worst outbreaks of the coronavirus, with nearly eight million infections, and voters lining up on the first day of a three-phase election for a new legislature in Bihar state were met with masks and temperature checks.

"I am a little afraid because the coronavirus is not a small disease," said Ms Nidhi Kumari, a 21-year-old student queueing up to vote in the outskirts of the state capital Patna. "But there are precautions at polling booths. They are giving sanitisers and gloves."

In August, the Supreme Court rejected a bid by a Bihar political party to postpone the vote, ruling that the virus was not a valid reason to do so.

Voters followed social distancing guidelines as they queued outside polling stations and some covered their mouths with shawls or scarves, video footage from Reuters partner ANI showed.

Polling officials checked voters' temperatures.

Bihar is India's third-most populous state, with a population of more than 100 million people. Voting takes place over three days, winding up on Nov 7.

The outcome is not expected to have any major implications for national politics more than a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured a second term with a sweeping general election victory.

Mr Modi, whose ruling alliance in Bihar is up against a united opposition, appealed to voters yesterday "to take all Covid precautions while participating in this festival of democracy".

India is set to pass the milestone of eight million infections today, as 43,893 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 7.99 million, Health Ministry data showed.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 29, 2020, with the headline Voting in India's Bihar state amid shadow of pandemic. Subscribe