New Delhi, Oct 9 (UNI) To promote 'non-contact based campaign' during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,

the Election Commission on Friday decided to double the broadcast/telecast time allotted to each National Party and recognized State Party of Bihar on Doordarshan and All India Radio during the upcoming State Assembly elections.

Elections to the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly would be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and 7 with results on November 10.

"The facilities will be available from the Regional Centre of the All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan and and relayed by other stations within Bihar", the Election Commission said in a statement.

It further said that a base time of 90 minutes will be given to each National Party and recognised State Party of Bihar uniformly on the Regional Kendras of Doordarshan network and All India Radio network in Bihar.

The additional time to be allotted to the party has been decided on the basis of the poll performance of the party in the last Assembly election of Bihar. In a single session of broadcast, no party will be allocated more than 30 minutes. The period of broadcast and telecast will be between the last date of filing the nominations and two days before the date of poll in Bihar, it said.

The Prasar Bharati Corporation in consultation with the Commission will decide the actual date and time for broadcast and telecast. This will be subject to the broad technical constraints governing the actual time of transmission available with the Doordarshan and AIR.

The parties will be required to submit transcripts and recordings in advance, it said.

In addition to the broadcast by parties, the Prasar Bharati Corporation will organise a maximum of four panel discussions or debates on the Doordarshan/AIR station. Each eligible party can nominate one representative to such a programme.

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