Background Bihar Legislative Assembly election, 2015

1 background

1.1 electoral process changes
1.2 security
1.3 bihar legislative council election
1.4 central government actions
1.5 other political developments
1.6 caste , religion data

background

electoral process changes

nota symbol

election commission of india announced around 1,000 voter-verified paper audit trail (vvpat) machines used along evm in 36 out of 243 assembly seats in bihar elections, spread on 34 districts. ecil manufactured vvpats used in 10 assembly constituencies, while bel manufactured vvpat used in 26 assembly constituencies. election information webcast first time , voters can locate polling booth on phones via app. 1.5 crore voters informed voting dates via sms.

election commission used 3 new software products - suvidha, samadhan , sugam - facilitate campaigning, public grievance redressal , vehicle management in bihar. electoral roll management software helped in addition/deletion/upgradation of rolls. android based app matdan helped commission poll-day monitoring in bihar. election commission launched special drive, systematic voters education , electoral participation (sveep) voter awareness , higher voter turn out in bihar elections. bihar first state have photo electoral rolls, photographs of candidates on evms.

eleven nri voters registered in electoral rolls first time in bihar electoral history. contacted election officials through family members. first time nris cast votes semi-electronically foreign countries. e-postal ballot system , existing proxy-voting facility extended nri voters place of residence abroad. facility not available migrant voters within india.

a cross nota symbol used in , subsequent elections. election commission introduced specific symbol nota, ballot paper black cross across it, on 18 september. symbol designed national institute of design, ahmedabad.

on 31 july, eci published final voters list election, has overall population of 10,38,04,637, in accordance 2011 census of india.

security

the security forces going use unmanned aerial vehicles (uav) drones, called netras (eyes) election. election commission of india decided bihar police personnel not deployed @ of 62,779 polling stations. manned members of central armed police forces.

bihar legislative council election

in july 2015, bjp-led nda won 13 seats (including 1 independent backed bjp) out of 24 seats of bihar legislative council election. jdu , rjd combine won 10 seats only, while 1 seat won independent candidate.

central government actions

on 19 august, central government notified 21 bihar districts, including capital patna, backward areas , unveiled tax rebates them. on 25 august, central government released religious data of 2011 census. hindus constituted 82.7% (8.6 crore people) in bihar, while muslims constituted 16.9% (1.7 crore peoples).

in july 2015, jitan ram manjhi accorded z -plus security cover union home ministry, while pappu yadav accorded y category security government of india.

other political developments

in may 2015, jdu government increased dearness allowance (da) 6 percent 11 percent provincial government employees , pensioners. in july, nitish kumar announced 50 percent quota obc, ebc , sc/sts in government contracts rs 15 lakh. in july, government issued notification give caste certificates children upper caste hindu , muslim families annual income below ₹1.5 lakh (us$2,300).

in september, government agreed creation of dedicated fund fencing off temples , inclusion of 2 of extremely backward castes (ebcs), nishad (mallah) , nonia, in sc/st category. state government decided provide grants-in-aid 609 more madrassas across bihar list of 2,459 registered bihar state madrassa education board. bihar government gave tax-exempt status manjhi - mountain man, film based on dashrath manjhi, dalit carved path through 360 ft long, 30 ft wide , 25 ft high hillock in 22 years (1960-1982). opposition parties accused nitish kumar government of doing nothing manjhi s village gehlaur.

in april 2015, nitish kumar announced jdu s decision include few more castes, including teli, in list of extremely backward class,which have 18% reservation in bihar.

caste , religion data

the 2011 national census indicated scheduled castes constituted 16% of bihar s 10.4 crores population. census identified 21 of 23 dalit sub-castes mahadalits. mahadalit community consists of following sub-castes: bantar, bauri, bhogta, bhuiya, chaupal, dabgar, dom (dhangad), ghasi, halalkhor, hari (mehtar, bhangi), kanjar, kurariar, lalbegi, musahar, nat, pan (swasi), rajwar, turi, dhobi, chamar , paswan (dusadh). paswan caste left out of mahadalit category, consternation of ram vilas paswan.adivasis (scheduled tribes) constituted around 1.3% of bihari population. include gond, santhal , tharu communities. there 130 extremely backward castes (ebcs) in bihar.