Bihar rural local body polls to be held in April-May: All you need to know
Bihar has 8,378 gram panchayats, 534 panchayat samitis and 38 district boards in the state. There are 258,000 posts with 114,667 ward members each.
Elections for the three-tier rural local bodies in Bihar are likely to be held in April-May this year in which six posts of ward member, mukhiya, panchayat samiti member, district board member, panch and sarpanch will go to the polls. The exercise to revise the electoral rolls is already underway in the state and will continue till January 11.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Bihar panchayat elections:
1. Bihar has 8,378 gram panchayats, 534 panchayat samitis and 38 district boards in the state. There are 258,000 posts with 114,667 ward members each.
2. The panchayat polls may be conducted through electronic voting machines (EVMs) and a proposal for the same is under consideration of the state government and awaiting a nod from the cabinet.
3. The State Election Commission (SEC) is likely to send the schedule for conduct of the panchayat polls by next month to the Bihar government for approval.
4. The Bihar local body polls, which are likely to be held in April-May in a phase-wise manner, are estimated to cost about ₹450 crore of which around ₹300 crore is for SEC and ₹125 crore is for the purchase of EVMs.
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{{/usCountry}}5. Candidates are likely to get the facility of filing their nomination papers online, apart from the conventional method, as the state election body is attempting to make the polls digital owing to the coronavirus pandemic. For this, candidates will have to go to designated portals and deposit the requisite fee through a challan digitally and then visit the office of the returning officer (RO) at an appointed time. This system was also adopted in the assembly polls in Bihar last year.
{{/usCountry}}5. Candidates are likely to get the facility of filing their nomination papers online, apart from the conventional method, as the state election body is attempting to make the polls digital owing to the coronavirus pandemic. For this, candidates will have to go to designated portals and deposit the requisite fee through a challan digitally and then visit the office of the returning officer (RO) at an appointed time. This system was also adopted in the assembly polls in Bihar last year.
{{/usCountry}}6. Issuing of e-certificates to winning candidates soon after results are declared is also under consideration
{{/usCountry}}6. Issuing of e-certificates to winning candidates soon after results are declared is also under consideration
{{/usCountry}}7. The draft publication of the updated rolls for panchayat polls would be done on January 19 and the final publication of rolls would be done on February 19 after addressing all the claims and objections to the first draft.
{{/usCountry}}7. The draft publication of the updated rolls for panchayat polls would be done on January 19 and the final publication of rolls would be done on February 19 after addressing all the claims and objections to the first draft.
{{/usCountry}}8. The updated voters’ list would be put online and voters would be able to download it and also search for their names by using various apps as the entire process will be digitised.
