Bihar Election essentially between BJP and the ‘Janata Parivar’ is likely to be held in October-November in a multi-phased basically over five phases, as opposed to six phases in 2010 in between the festivals.

Bihar Election was initially said to happen around in September-October, but officials said that the panel are not in the favour to conduct election during this period as the state is prone to flood and therefore they must extend the dates by one month. The term of Bihar assembly ends on November 29. Sources also said that there are a lot more high intense work on various issues which need to accomplish before the two election commissioners, Nasim Zaidi and Achal Kumar Jyoti make a visit in the first week of August with top officials of the administration and police and representatives of political parties and finalise the election schedule.

Bihar Election: EC looking for a window to conduct the Election in 4 to 5 phases

As per the constitution, elections can be held anytime 6 months before the assembly term end date which is due on 29^th November, 2015 in Bihar. The Commission is therefore looking at a window before festival season starts late October or to squeeze some phases between Dussehra and Diwali for conducting the election. It looks like this poll will take place in 4 or 5 phases, but the final decision is yet to be taken by the Commission.

This election is a battle between BJP and Nitish-Lalu Grand Alliance and is crucial from the point of view of both the alliances. After being thrashed by AAP in Delhi and recent corruptions allegations, BJP desperately needs an electoral win to regain his lost momentum. BJP has recently got a psychological boost after winning legislative council election. Although it was not a one-way win but a close one where they managed to win 13 seats out of 24. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav responded on a brave note by stating, Legislative Council results are not the response of the general masses and therefore they (BJP) need not to be get overconfident.

The Election Commission is all prepared to release the final electoral rolls on 31st July, 2015, for which a team has already been sent by the poll panel to Bihar who briefed the commission about the election preparedness of the official machinery, 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.

The Election Commission is hoping to get the required number of security personnel for this election from the central forces without much headaches.

As soon as the electoral roll is published which is scheduled on 31^st July, the process of electoral roll updation to include all those who are left out will commence.

Before finalising the exact dates of different phases of Bihar Election, the Election Commission will consider all the important factors like: weather conditions, festivals, exams, floods, etc.

The poll watchdog has undertaken mapping of all constituencies of Bihar into three categories. The Election Commission is also planning to deploy the central forces to the most sensitive regions well in time.

EC to use VVPAT System in Bihar Election

The Election Commission is all ready to use the best of the technology by using voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system in 36 of the 243 assembly constituencies of Bihar. VVPAT System is a way to provide feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. An Electronic Voting Machine 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.