India, Oct. 5 -- Chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday said the Election Commission of India (ECI) would soon decide the number of phases for the upcoming Bihar polls after weighing the pros and cons even as he outlined that the central poll panel had taken 17 new initiatives for better conduct of the upcoming state polls and these would be replicated across the country in due course.

"We will take a decision on whether to conduct the polls in one, two or three phases, soon. The pros and cons would be weighed in and a decision would be taken," the CEC said, while addressing a presser with two election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi as well as top ECI officials in Patna before winding up their two-d...