17 Revolutionary Electoral Reforms Introduced in Bihar Elections Set to Transform India's Voting System

Bihar will conduct elections for its 243 assembly seats in two phases on November 6 and 11, with vote counting scheduled for November 14.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has emphasized that these elections, following the controversial Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, will demonstrate to the entire nation how to effectively purify voter lists.

The Election Commission has introduced 17 new initiatives that will eventually be implemented nationwide:

Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties have received comprehensive training on supporting electoral roll preparation, including how to use appeals provisions under the RP Act 1950.

Over 7,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and supervisors from across India, including Bihar, have undergone specialized training at IIIDEM, New Delhi.

Special training sessions were conducted for Bihar Police to enhance law-and-order preparedness during the electoral process.

Bihar has implemented a Special Intensive Revision to purify electoral rolls, ensuring all eligible voters are included while removing ineligible entries.

Remuneration for election officials has been significantly improved, with BLOs receiving double compensation, enhanced payments for supervisors, polling staff, CAPF, monitoring teams, and micro-observers. EROs and AEROs will receive honorariums for the first time, and refreshment allowances have been increased.

A new standard operating procedure ensures free delivery of Elector's Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) within 15 days of electoral roll updates, with SMS notifications at each delivery stage.

Standardized photo ID cards have been issued to BLOs to improve field-level transparency and build public trust.

Mobile deposit facilities will be available just outside polling stations for voters to temporarily store their phones during voting.

Voter Information Slips (VIS) have been redesigned with more prominent serial and part numbers for easier voter verification.

The ECINet App now serves as a one-stop digital platform for numerous election services, including near real-time voter turnout updates. Presiding officers will upload turnout data every two hours on polling day to provide more timely polling trend information.

Polling stations now have a limit of 1,200 voters to reduce crowding and waiting times, with additional booths established in high-rise residential buildings and societies.

Candidate booths for distributing unofficial identity slips may now be set up just beyond the 100-meter boundary of polling stations.

All polling stations will have 100% webcasting coverage to monitor critical activities and ensure compliance with electoral procedures.

EVM ballot paper guidelines have been revised to improve readability, with EVMs featuring color photographs of candidates for the first time.

VVPAT slip counting has been made mandatory in every case where mismatches occur between Form 17C and EVM data, or where mock poll data was erroneously not erased.

The counting process for postal ballots has been streamlined, with the penultimate round of EVM/VVPAT counting beginning only after postal ballot counting is complete.

A technology-driven system of digital index cards and reports has been introduced to improve accessibility of constituency-level election data for all stakeholders.