Patna: The Bihar Assembly Elections may take place in 2 or 3 phases, said sources. The Election Commission is expected to decide the election dates, keeping in mind the dates of Diwali and Chhath festivals. Chhath is a very important festival in Bihar. The term of the Bihar Assembly is ending on November 22, 2025 and before that the election process must be completed.
Previous elections in Bihar
Bihar witnessed a 3-phase election in 2020, and a 5-phase one in 2015. The Elections of 2020 in Bihar were the first elections in the country which were held as the Coronavirus pandemic raged across the world and in India as well.
The Election Commission has already started preparations for the Bihar Assembly Elections. The Chief Election Commission (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar is going to visit Bihar later this month. He is expected to visit different places in the state. Meanwhile the Commission is also training its officials for the upcoming polls in the state.
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The Election Commission is also asking political parties to thoroughly check the voters list and inform the Commission in case they see some names being added or deleted. The political parties have the time to appeal and complain to the Commission to get the names verified, before the final voter list is published.
The Commission is trying to ensure that the allegations of names of voters being deleted, which came up in elections of Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi are not repeated in Bihar. It is therefore sending the list to the political parties of the state. The BLOs are also getting training to avoid such a situation.
All BLOs will be given identity cards, so that they can go and carry out a door-to-door verification, ahead of the elections.
A campaign will be run across Bihar to add names to the voters list. This will help in adding the names of the youth who have turned 18 years to the voters list.
EC to start ECINET
The Election Commission has decided to start ECINET. This is an integrated dashboard that provides all facilities at one place, instead of the 40 websites that were there earlier. The ECINET will be fully functional by the time Bihar goes to polls, said the EC.
The Commission has taken several measures post the allegations of the Opposition. Now there will be no duplicate EPIC numbers. They have been discontinued. Death figures have been linked to the Registrar General of India so that the names of deceased voters can be removed from the voter list.
The voters will also get several new facilities this year. The EC has come up with the proposal for several new facilities for the voters. Now there will be at max 1200 votes at one polling booth, instead of the earlier 1500 votes. The densely populated areas will have more polling booths.
The Commission will ensure that no voter has to walk more than 2 kilometres to cast his or her vote. High-rise buildings will have polling booths.Apart from this, starting with the Bihar elections, a facility to deposit your phone outside the polling booth will be made available to the voters.
The serial and part number on the voter slip will be written clearly and in bold letters, so that it is easy to find.
The Commission is also ready to tackle the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI). They will soon form a Cell which will monitor AI and deep fake videos, during elections. The Commission has already issued an advisory to political parties, regarding AI. They have been asked to clearly mention if any promotional material has been created using AI, so that voters are aware of the same.
