Chapter 1: Bihar Election 2020-Basics

October 5, 2020October 6, 2020 Tietler

An apolitical Bihar election 2020

Bihar sits at the center of modern Indian politics. From Vaishali’s great Republic to the Budha’s secular teachings that designed the frame of modern world to the Gandhi’s 1917 Champaran Satyagraha to the 1974 anti-corruption movement led by Jayprakash Narayan that presaged Indira Gandhi’s Emergency to Lalu Yadav’s 1990 arrest of LK Advani during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, the India’s politics has always kept political watchers on the Bihar election.

Bihar election is not mere a stamp of legislation of the state but certainly is the beacon of country’s future course.

The Opposition even wants the elections postponed

The apolitical election dominated not by issues of the economy of social justice or the Covid hammered workers-migrations – but also by the death of an actor in Mumbai. The Hathras rape incident and the Farm bills 2020 are also expected to play a key role in the elections.

The Bihar Legislative Assembly election will be held to elect members to the Legislative Assembly of Bihar. The election will held in three phases for a total of 243 seats; the first for 71 seats on 28 October 2020, the second for 94 seats on 3 November 2020 and the third for the remaining 78 will be on 7 November 2020. The results will be announced on 10 November 2020. As per the Election Commission of India, approximately 60 registered parties contest are to in the elections.

The tenure of Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on 29 November 2020.

How many seats in the assembly?

Bihar Assembly has a total of 243 assembly seats. At present, the alliance of BJP and JDU is in power. RJD is the largest party in Bihar, which has 73 seats. But Nitish Kumar’s JDU broke the alliance with RJD and joined BJP in 2017.

Code of conduct and guidelines :

The elections will be conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic with the necessary guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India. The election campaigns will consist of both, virtual and physical. The authorities will also pass the guidelines over limited people to be involved in the rallies. Due to Covid-19, the polling time will be increased by one hour and will now be from 7am to 6pm, except in Naxalite–Maoist insurgency affected areas..

It includes below COVID-19 protocols not only for the political parties but also for the voters.

The Bihar Assembly elections will not only be India’s first such election to be held amid the coronavirus pandemic, but will also be the biggest global voting exercise to be conducted during the crisis.

Following standard safety measures, including social distancing and wearing of masks is mandatory, Those with high temperature will have to vote in the last one hour of the polling process and that there will be fewer voters at a booth.
EC has capped the number of people involved in door-to-door campaigning and has also allowed the submission of nomination forms online.
The commission has said it will provide gloves to voters before they use electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Nitish Kumar’s Track vs Tejaswvi”s History and the Modi’s Magic

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) and its allies in the NDA, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are aiming to retain power in the state. The ruling coalition is being challenged by the Grand Alliance comprising the Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and other smaller parties.

After a not so great track record in last 4 state elections post-Lok Sabha 2019 elections. Nitish is seeking a 4th term and history shows it is very difficult to get re-elected, many big leaders like Lalu Yadav, Shivraj, Singh Chauhan Raman Singh, Tarun Gogoi, Shiela Dixit have lost.

NDA is in power and Grand Alliance is the challenger

The RJD is also hamstrung by the fact that the party is largely in disarray. With its charismatic leader Lalu Prasad Yadav in jail, the party has remained largely rudderless under his son, Tejashwi Yadav. In 2019, the party was unable to win a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Bihar election is very important for PM Modi. This is a lockdown referendum, his credibility is falling among people, one after the other states are going out of BJP’s hands and in a way, the state elections are becoming a vote of no confidence for them. He wants to keep his morale high by winning the Bihar election by any means.

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