The countdown to Bihar assembly elections has begun with a nine-member Election Commission of India team holding a detailed review meeting with state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) Vinod Singh Gunjiyal and senior officials from his office here on Thursday.
The high-level Election Commission of India (ECI) team, led by deputy election commissioner Manish Garg, arrived in Patna on Wednesday night on a three-day visit to conduct a comprehensive review of Bihar’s election preparedness.
The term of the present Bihar legislative assembly ends on November 22 and elections to the 243-member House are scheduled for October-November.
Thursday’s meeting focused on a thorough review of preparations for the upcoming assembly elections with the ECI team seeking information on arrangements at voting centres, voter list revision and updates, availability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) systems, law and order situation assessment, logistics support infrastructure, special facilities for disabled voters and senior citizens as well as administrative preparedness for the implementation of the model code of conduct.
The ECI team will, on Friday, divide into four groups to conduct training sessions and hold assessment meetings with the commissioners of all divisions, district magistrates, electoral registration officers (EROs), and assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) across the state. These meetings will evaluate the ground-level election preparedness and identify any gaps in the current arrangements.
After the three-day assessment, the ECI team will return to Delhi and submit its report to the chief election commissioner (CEC). Based on this report, a visit by the CEC to Bihar is likely, following which the election schedule may be announced.
Earlier, the ECI had announced "special intensive revision of electoral rolls" and "house-to-house verification" in Bihar to ensure enrolment of all eligible citizens. Booth level officers (BLOs) would conduct a house-to-house survey for verification during the special intensive revision, it said.
The last intensive revision for Bihar was held in 2003.
The ECI said the objective of an intensified revision was to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens were included in the electoral roll and no ineligible voter was included in the electoral rolls.
The enumeration form will require those electors born before July 1, 1987 to provide a document establishing date and/or place of birth.
Meanwhile, the ECI’s decision special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar has Opposition parties up in arms. Calling it a “conspiracy to deprive lakhs of electors,” the opposition Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) leaders met the state chief electoral officer and lodged a strong protest against the move to conduct a special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in state.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and CPI-ML (Liberation), both part of the Mahagathbandhan, called the exercise as “unacceptable and illogical”.
RJD MP Manoj Jha said the timing of the exercise was suspect with elections in Bihar due in two months. He asked if the ECI could complete such an exercise in this short span.
CPI-ML (Liberation) national general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya also questioned if such a big exercise could be conducted within a month. “This is infeasible, he added.