Bihar gears for panchayat polls

After assembly elections concluded peacefully in Bihar last month, the state is gearing up for the eight phase panchayat polls April 15-May 15 next year, an official said Tuesday.

‘We have begun the preparations for the panchayat elections,’ said an official of the state election commission here.

The official said the state election commission called a meeting of divisional commissioners, zonal inspector generals and senior officials, including principal secretaries of home and panchayat departments, to review the preparations.

‘The state election commission has decided to take all necessary measures to ensure peaceful panchayat polls,’ the official told IANS.

The commission plans to hold the panchayat polls through electronic voting machines for the first time in the state, the official added.

Over five crore voters will be eligible to elect about 2.62 lakh panchayati raj representatives.

In 2006, Bihar became the first state in the country to give 50 percent reservation to women in the panchayat polls.