Bihar Assembly Polls in Multiple Phases Between October and November

NEW DELHI: Election Commission is likely to conduct the Bihar assembly elections between October and November, amidst festivals in four or five phases.

Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti are likely to visit Patna early next month for discussions with top officials of the administration and police and representatives of political parties before finalising the poll schedule.

The poll panel is analysing to conduct elections before festival season starts late October or to squeeze some phases between Dussehra and Diwali for holding the polls.

The festival of chhath, which is an important event in Bihar, falls six days after Diwali that will be celebrated on November 11.

The EC will have to take into account weather conditions, festivals, exams, holidays, heavy monsoon, heavy rain and floods before arriving at exact schedule.

The panel prepares to ublish the final electoral rolls on July 31. A team, which visited the state, had briefed the Commission about the progress in preparing the electoral rolls, vulnerability mapping of sensitive constituencies, awareness campaign for voters to get their names included in electoral rolls and threat perception.

Election Commission had dispatched four special teams of ‘auditors’ to the state for weeding out duplicate entries from electoral rolls.

The Commission would be using voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) in 36 of the 243 assembly constituencies but the number could increase.

VVPAT is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. An EVM will have a small attachment to it which after pressing the button for a desired candidate, will print that name on a paper. It will be stored inside the machine and can be used in case of any controversy over the final result.

The term of the 243-member Bihar assembly ends on November 29 and the new House should be in place before that. Elections, under the Constitution, can be held anytime six months before the due date.

BJP is all set for Bihar elections where foes Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad have come together in an uneasy alliance.

The Bihar polls will be followed by a round of Assembly elections in various states including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Assam.

VVPAT to be used in 36 constituencies

The EC would be using voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) in 36 of the 243 assembly constituencies but the number could increase. The voter-verified paper audit trail is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. An EVM will have a small attachment to it which after pressing the button for a desired candidate, will print that name on a paper.