Election Commision allows postal ballots to voters above 80 yrs in upcoming polls

Amid the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Election Commission on Thursday, has decided not to extend postal ballot facility to citizens above 65 years in the upcoming Bihar state polls and other pending by-elections. However, EC will allow postal ballots for voters above 80 yrs, disabled, those engaged in essential services and COVID positive patients in home or institutional quarantine, as per notification issued by EC. Currently, Bihar which has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases is under lockdown till July 31.

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Election commission: 'Postal ballots for 80+ voters'

The EC stated that it has limited number of electors to 1000 for each polling station and has created 34,000 polling stations in Bihar for the upcoming state polls, taking its tally to 1,06,000 booths in the state. The additional booths pose a challenge of mobilising 1.8 lakh additional polling officials, states EC. Hence, inspite do the Health ministry guidelines issued for 'Protection of vulnerable persons', due to logistical constraints, EC has decided not to extend postal ballot facilities to electors above 65 years.

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Bihar assembly elections 

Bihar is going to polls in October-November this year. As BJP lost in Delhi, all eyes are set on former party chief Amit Shah and Nitish Kumar -led JDU. While Kumar faces strong anti-incumbency, RJD - Bihar's main opposition has lost the lusture it once had due to the absence of it's chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.  Currently, the JDU-BJP combination rules the state with 131 seats, while RJD-Congress opposition has 111 seats.

However, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav has been amplifying his attack against the BJP government and has been portrayed as the CM candidate of the Mahagathbandhan. Meanwhile, former JDU vice president Prashant Kishor has also claimed that he is working at 'ground level' for the development of Bihar.  In a twist of sorts, London-based Pushpam Priya Choudhary, the daughter of JDU leader Binod Choudhary, on March 8 declared herself as the Chief Ministerial candidate.

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2015 state polls

In the 2015 assembly polls, CM Nitish Kumar's JDU, then a part of the Mahagathbandhan won 71 seats, Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD won 80 seats, and Congress won 27 seats. The BJP which fought the elections alone after Kumar in 2013 broke the 17-year-old alliance won a mere 53 seats out of 157 contested. However, the saffron party came back to power when Kumar ditched the Mahagathbandhan and once again stitched an alliance with the BJP.

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