The Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule of the Bihar Assembly Election on Monday at 4 pm. The all-important press conference for Bihar comes just a day after the poll panel addressed the media in the state capital, Patna, after reviewing the preparedness for the democratic exercise.
The term of the current Bihar Legislative Assembly expires on November 22, and the election process in the state must be completed before that. In Bihar, there are a total of 243 Assembly constituencies, including two reserved for the Scheduled tribes and 38 for the Scheduled Castes.
At the Patna press briefing on Sunday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced some important firsts for the elections in Bihar:
– No polling station in Bihar will have more than 1,200 voters to ensure a smoother and faster voting process.
– In an interesting move, the poll panel has revised rules for the design and printing of EVM ballot papers. The EVM ballot paper will now carry candidates’ photographs in colour, while their faces will occupy three-fourths of the photo space—all this is being done for better readability and visibility. So far, photos have been printed only in black and white.
– The EVM Ballot Papers will carry serial numbers of candidates/NOTA in the international form of Indian numerals. The font size will be 30 and in bold for further clarity.
– Voter slips will also be issued in a bigger font size, with the polling booth name and address mentioned in bold.
– A facility will also be provided during the polling in Bihar to deposit voters’ mobile phones in a room outside the booth.
– During the Assembly Elections in Bihar, booth-level officials will carry identity cards for easier identification.
– 100 per cent webcasting will be done from every polling station. Earlier, webcasting was done from 50 to 60 per cent of the booths.
– The counting of postal ballots will have to be completed before the final two rounds of EVM ballot counting.
During the Bihar election, the main contest is expected between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the state, and the Mahagathbandhan, spearheaded by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
In the current Bihar Assembly, the NDA has 131 MLAs – BJP has 80, JD(U) has 45, HAM(S) has four, and two are Independents.
The Mahagathbandhan, on the other hand, has a total of 111 MLAs – 77 of RJD, 19 of Congress, 11 of CPI(ML), and two each of CPI(M) and CPI.
