Amidst Covid-19 scare, EC reduces poll phases from five to three phases with increased hours of poll in a 46 day poll schedule. Migrant voters will be the key deciding factor in the polls.
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Mumbai: The electorate and migrant voters of Bihar will have a Hobson’s choice to make in a three phased assembly polls on October 28, November 3 and November 7, on which of two governments that ruled them in the last five years was better. It will also be a test for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his decision to debunk his 2015 poll Mahagathbandhan allies – Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress in favor of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mid-way in 2017. The JD-U chief will have to contend with a resurgent opponent in RJD and the BJP.
In Bihar there are 16 out of the 38 district’s, where the migrant labourers account for five percent or more of the total population. There is 16 lakh migrant labour population in Bihar whose names have been included in the voter list. Following the lockdown announced nearly 23.6 lakh migrant labourers managed to return back to their native places.
Sources argue that besides the ongoing probe into the mysterious death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the issue of migrant labourers, the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is also going to have a profound impact on these elections.
Bihar accounts for a sizeable migrant labour population in the country. The JD-U-BJP government had to bring them back from across the country, give them Rs 1000 as cash doles, food and provide temporary jobs, besides make efforts at curbing the spread of Coronavirus. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is seeking fresh mandate with an aggressive, resurgent Tejaswi Yadav, with whose RJD he had initially shared power with. The JD-U chief will also be mindful of his ally in government the BJP which sources argue is likely to increase its tally of seats.
Announcing the schedule for the 243 member Bihar assembly elections, Election Commission of India (ECI), Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora disclosed that while reducing the poll phases from five in 2015, to just three in 2020, the ECI has at the same time increased the number of polling stations to 1,06,500 from 65,337 polling stations, but reduced the voters per polling booth to 1,000 to ensure social distancing and increased the hours of poll from 7 am to 6 pm, by an hour from the earlier 7 am to 5 pm timing.
In respect to by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 64 assembly constituencies across the states, the ECI will decide on the matter on September 29.
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In the first phase of elections 71 assembly constituencies spread over 16 districts and covering 31,000 polling stations will go to polls on October 28. The notification for the 16 day first phase will be issued on October 1, last date for filing nomination papers is October 8, scrutiny of nomination papers will be taken up on October 9, last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is October 12, polling will be held on October 28 and votes will be counted and results will be declared on November 10.
In the second phase of elections 94 assembly constituencies spread over 17 districts and covering 42,000 polling stations will go to polls on November 3. The notification for the 15 day second phase will be issued on October 9, last date for filing nomination papers is October 16, scrutiny of nomination papers will be taken up on October 17, last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is October 19, polling will be held on November 3 and votes will be counted and results will be declared on November 10.
In the third phase of polling 78 assembly constituencies spread over 15 districts and covering 33,500 polling stations will go to polls on November 7. The notification for the 15 day third phase will be issued on October 13, last date for filing nomination papers is October 20, scrutiny of nomination papers will be taken up on October 21, last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is October 23, polling will be held on November 7 and votes will be counted and results will be declared on November 10.
Elections in eight flood prone districts of Darbangha, Vaishali and others will be held in two phases. Replying to queries over the same, CEC Sunil Arora clarified that as is the experience of the administration the flood waters have begun to recede. On the issue of voters making it to the polling stations amidst rains and floods, he pointed out that recently students managed to appear for their NEET and JEE exams in the state.
The CEC informed that absentee ballot or postal ballot facility will only be extended to senior citizens over the age of 80 years. Pointing to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said that all the Covid-19 patients will be allowed to cast their ballot in the extended last hour of polling. CEC Arora however, clarified that the extended hours of polling will not be applicable in districts affected by Left Wing extremist violence.
He added that the ECI has appointed nodal officers in all the districts to ensure that all the Covid-19 protocols are being followed or not. Over 7 lakh hand sanitizer units, about 46 lakh face masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh units of faces-shields, 23 lakh (pairs of) hand gloves have been arranged. For voters specifically, 7.2 crore single-use hand gloves are being made available at the polling booths also.
In respect of the campaign and filing of nomination papers, CEC Arora stated that the candidates have the option of filing the nomination papers online, make digital payments of security deposit and thereafter submit the printouts of the same to the Election Returning Officer (ERO). Only five people will be allowed including the candidate in door to door campaigning.
As per revised Covid-19 protocols, there shall be a break after every five vehicles in the motorcade used by candidates for filing nomination papers and roadshows. Political parties should upload online criminal antecedents of candidates, why they were selected and why those with no such antecedents were not selected. Candidates with criminal antecedents will have to upload online and publish the details of cases if any pending against them, three times during the campaign period.
The term of assembly in the state of Bihar is due to expire on 29th November, 2020, while it was constituted on November 30, 2015. Bihar assembly has strength of 243 members, of whom 38 seats are reserved for Schedule Caste’s (SC) and 2 for Schedule Tribes (ST). The half-way mark or majority mark is 122 seats. Sixteen districts in Bihar account for 123 of the total 243 assembly seats. The total voter population of Bihar is 7.29 crore, whereas the polling percentage in 2015 elections was 56.91 percent.
In the 2015 Bihar assembly elections the JD-U, RJD and Congress led Mahagathbandhan had strength of 178 seats, the NDA had 58 seats and others 7 seats. Mid-way through the term in 2017, JD-U walked out of the Mahagathbandhan alliance and formed the government in alliance with its old ally the BJP. The JD-U-BJP alliance had 130 seats, the opposition had 101 seats and 12 seats were lying vacant.
The final tally in 2015 Bihar assembly elections was as follows – BJP 53 seats (24.42 percent vote share), Congress 27 seats (6.66 percent), CPI-ML-L – 3 seats (1.54 percent), HAM-S 1 seat (2.27 percent), Independent’s 4 seats (9.39 percent), JD-U 71 seats (16.83 percent), LJSP 2 seats (4.83 percent), RJD 80 seats (18.35 percent), RLSP/BLSP 2 seats (2.56 percent), Shiv Sena 0 seats (0.55 percent) and NOTA in 243 seats (2.48 percent).
