The Election Commission is in a dilemma to conduct the Bihar assembly elections. The Commission is not saying anything to postpone the elections, but even if the high speed of Corona in Bihar and the floods in the border districts is bypassed, there are many difficulties before it. The new government has to be formed before November 29th and elections are not possible in Bihar due to festivals from 13th to 21st of that month.
In October, Navratri is from 17th to 25th. However, in the last election, a phase election was held during Navratri, but this time it may be difficult due to Corona.
Election in September-October is considered fixed;
The elections are fixed and will be conducted in September-October. The Commission is also not talking about postponing the election and the High Court has also left the petition regarding this aside. In such a situation, know what will happen where numbers are concered and what is the ground situation now – Government counting till 13th November or only counting after Chhath pooja is possible
The arithmetic of dates is also important regarding these elections. The same conditions were there in 2015, but this time the dates are even more important. In 2015, a phase of polling had to be held in the middle of Navratri, so that the results would come on 8th November, before Dhanteras on 9th November. This time Navratri is between 17th to 25th October. Dhanteras, Diwali and then the six-day Mahaparva Chhath pooja are celebrated in Bihar. This time the festival of Dhanteras is on 13th November and Mahaparva Chhath is ending on 21st November.
Sunil Kumar Sinha, president of Chanakya School of Political Rights and Research, says, “Since the first session of the 16th assembly began on 30 November 2015, the assembly will be dissolved on 29th November. Before this the new government should be elected and in such a situation only the election results and process of swearing in can be done after Chhath. ”
Fear of infection of administrative officials and death of government officials;
The state home department is currently on only two front lines. On the one hand, the department is ready to tackle the flood in the border districts, while on the other hand the corona situation also requires monitoring. Till now the assembly-related front has not opened here, while the Home Department and General Administration Department play an important role in the electoral framework.
A top official of the home department said that roster duty could not be imposed here due to the coronavirus and work has to be done in the midst of danger. There is a fear among the officials of contacting the coronavirus, and also of possibly dying.
Two PILs in the High Court, one has not heard in the court in the past month;
In the second week of July in the Patna High Court, advocate Badri Narayan Singh, filed a PIL and in the fourth week, a public interest litigation was filed by Shailendra Kumar on behalf of a political party. Neither of these two petitions has been accepted by the High Court so far.
The first lockdown, from March itself, the High Court is hearing the urgent cases through the virtual mode. Had the court considered it necessary, the dates of hearing would have come. Meaning, so far nothing is being done by the High Court to postpone the election.
Conducting the assembly elections, in the middle of a pandemic, seems like a very risky move. The only hope for both the officials and the people were the PILs in the High Court, but now that the official dates are out, this has also been squashed. All that can be said is that now, both the public and the officials follow all the guidelines and stay as vigilant and safe as possible during the entire voting process.