NEW DELHI: With the final electoral roll for Bihar set to be published on Sept 30, the Election Commission will immediately start the warm-up for announcement of assembly poll dates, starting with a meeting with poll observers on Oct 3 and a visit by the full commission to the state on Oct 4 and 5.This is likely to be followed by a meeting with the Union Home Secretary to finalise the logistics relating to deployment of Central forces for poll security. Given that the aforesaid engagements are penultimate formalities before announcement of the poll dates, the EC may hold the press conference soon after to release the Bihar poll schedule, possibly as early as Oct 6 or 7. There have been precedents when the meeting with the Home Secretary was done on the same as the poll announcement.
The upcoming Bihar poll is likely to be held over fewer phases as compared to 2020. There were three rounds of polling in the state in 2020, which was held under the shadow of Covid pandemic.The term of the current Bihar assembly expires on November 22, 2025. EC usually completes polls with sufficient time to spare for govt formation. Interestingly, the Supreme Court is set to conduct its final hearing on Oct 7 on the slew of petitions challenging the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar. A senior EC official said announcing and conducting polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies on time is a Constitutional obligation of the Commission and needs to be discharged irrespective of judicial proceedings. In any case, there is no stay from the court on SIR on any other process. SC had at its last hearing clarified that if it finds any illegality in methodology adopted by ECI at any stage of Bihar SIR, the entire exercise will be set aside. “Can’t give piecemeal opinion on Bihar SIR, final verdict will be applicable for pan-India SIR,” the top court bench had stated.Even if the SIR exercise were to be hypothetically set aside by SC, the EC will at most need to hold the poll as per pre-SIR rolls. During its Bihar visit, EC will hold discussions with the Bihar chief electoral officer, all district magistrates and superintendents of police, political party representatives and the enforcement agencies including the income-tax department, excise department, ED, DRI and the Narcotics Control Bureau. At its meeting with general, expenditure and police observers appointed to watch over Bihar polls, EC will brief them on their duties and responsibilities including flagging any abuse of money-power or hate-speech and ensuring compliance of the model code of conduct. The EC officials have already conducted preliminary discussions on force availability with the MHA and Central forces. A final meeting with Home Secretary will be held after the requirement is clearly assessed by EC based on its Bihar visit.
