The Governor of Bihar makes the following
Bihar Municipal Election (Amendment) Rules, 2022 for due conduct of Municipal
Election under section 14 of Bihar Municipal Act, 2007 (Bihar Act, 11, 2007). (1)
These
rules shall be called "Bihar Municipal Election (Amendment) Rules,
2022." (2)
It
shall extend to the whole of the state of Bihar. (3)
It
shall come into force from the date of its publication in the official Gazette. (i)
Rule
2 (e) of the aforesaid rules shall be substituted by the following:- 2 (e) "General
election" means election for the post of Councillor under sub-section (6)
of section 12 of the Act and election for the post of the Chief Councillor and
Deputy Chief Councillor under sub-section (1) of section 23. (ii)
Rule
2 (h) of the aforesaid rules shall be substituted by the following:- "Form" means a form set out in
these Rules, which may be subject to change if so required by the State
Election Commission. Form 11, form 12, form 13, form 14 (a), form 14 (b), form
15, form 16, form 17, form 18 (a), form 18 (b), form 19, form 20, form 23 (a),
form 23 (b), form 24 (a), form 24 (b) and form 26 of the rules shall be amended
accordingly as enclosed form. (1)
The
word "Chief Councillor" in Rule 30 of the said Rules shall be substituted
by "Chief Councillor" and "Deputy Chief Councillor". In cause title of part IV and sub-rule (1) of
Rule 40 of the said rules word "Chief Councillor", shall be
substituted by Chief Councillors, Deputy Chief Councillor and Councillors. (i)
Sub
rule 2 of Rule 42 of the said rules shall be substituted by the following:- Any person whose name is registered in the
electoral of the ward and who is entitled to vote and is not subject to any
disqualification as a candidate under the Act may subscribe as proposer or
seconder as many nomination papers as there are vacancies to be filled in the
Municipality; but no more. (ii)
Sub
rule 3 of the rule 42 of the said rule shall be substituted by the following:- A person can not be a proposer or a seconder
for more than one candidate for the specific post. (iii)
Sub
rule 4 of rule 42 of the said rules shall be substituted by the following:- A person who himself is a candidate for a
particular ward can not be a proposer or a seconder for any other candidate
from that ward. The Chief Councillor and The Deputy Chief Councillor can not be
a proposer or seconder for other candidate for the particular post. (iv)
Sub
rule 5 of the rule 42 of the said rules shall be substituted by the following:- A proposer or a seconder for a candidate of a
particular ward can not himself be a candidate for election from the said ward.
A proposer or a seconder for the post of the Chief Councillor and the Deputy
Chief Councillor can not himself be a candidate for that particular post. (i)
Sub
rule (1) (d) of rule 43 of the said rules shall be substituted by the
following:- A challan of Government Treasury or a Nazir
Receipt showing a deposit of a sum of Rupees two hundred, Rupees five hundred
and Rupees one Thousand of the candidate for the post of a councilor from the
Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes/Backward Classes/Woman at Nagar Panchayat,
Municipal Council and Municipal Corporation respectively and a sum of Rupees
four hundred, Rupees one thousand and rupees two thousand respectively for the
post of councilor from Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council and Municipal
Corporation, if a candidate is not a member of such classes. Likewise a challan
of Government Treasury or a Nazir Receipt showing a deposit of a sum of Rupees
four hundred, Rupees one thousand and Rupees two Thousand for a member of the
Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes/Backward Classes/Woman for the post of Chief
Councillor/Deputy Chief Councillor and Rupees eight hundred, Rupees two
thousand and Rupees four thousand respectively for the post of Chief Councillor,
Deputy Chief Councillor in Nagar Panchayat, Nagar Parishad and Nagar Nigam, if
a candidate is not a member of such classes. (ii)
The
proviso to sub-rule (2) of rule 43 of the said rules shall be substituted by
the following:- Provided that where more than one nomination
paper has been filed by a candidate for election from the same ward, he shall
not be required to pay more than one fee. Where more than one nomination paper
has been filed by a candidate for election to the post of Chief Councillor and
Deputy Chief Councillor, he shall not be required to pay more than one fee. (i)
Sub
rule (1) (ii) of rule 46 of the said rules shall be substituted by the
following:- That, the name of the proposal or the
seconder for the post of a Councillor is not registered on the electoral roll
of the ward for which the candidate is nominated and the name of the proposer
or the seconder for the post of Chief Councillor/Deputy Chief Councillor is not
registered on the electoral roll of any ward of the municipality. (ii)
Sub
rule (1) (vii) (d) of the said rule 46 shall be substituted by the following:- Challan or receipt of fee deposited/receipt
of deposit through online mode prescribed by the Commission. In Sub rule (1) of rule 50 of the said rules
the words "in any ward" shall be deleted. Sub rule (3) of rule 51 of the said rules
shall be substituted by the following:- If there is no duly nominated candidate of
election from a ward/municipality, the State Election Commission shall, in the
manner prescribed under rule 40 call upon that ward/municipality to fill up the
seat before such date as may be appointed in this behalf by the State Election
Commission. Provided that where any vacancy having
already been called upon under this rule fails to elect a person to fill the
vacancy, the Returning Officer shall not be bound to call again upon any
vacancy to elect a person until such date as the State Election Commission may
specify in this behalf. In sub rule (1) and (2) of said Rule 53, the
word "Returning Officer" appearing in the said rules shall be
substituted with the words "District Returning Officer (Municipality). In sub rule (1) of 56 the word 'Election
Agent' shall be substituted by the 'Polling Agent.' In the said rule, sub-rule (1) of rule 63
shall be substituted by the following:- The Presiding Officer shall establish the
identity of a voter on the basis of records/documents/certificates/electronic
medium as directed by the Commission. In Rule 64 of the said rules, the words
"Electronic Photo Identity Card" occurring in the said rules shall be
substituted with the words "Voter's Photo Identity Card." (i)
Sub
rule (5) of the rule 69 of the said rules shall be substituted by the
following:- Any reference in respect of left hand index
finger of a voter made under these rules or sub rule (2) shall be deemed to be
a reference to any finger of the left hand, if he does not have his left index
finger; if he does not have any finger in his left hand, reference shall be
deemed to be a reference to the index or other finger of the right hand. And if
all the fingers of the both hands are missing, the end part of the left hand or
the right hand shall be construed as a reference, as the voter proposes. (ii)
Sub-rule
(6) (ii) of the rule 69 of the said rules shall be substituted by the
following:- In deciding the right of a person to use a
ballot paper for the purpose of voting at an election, the Presiding Officer
may over look merely clerical or printing errors occurred in any entry in the
electoral roll. Sub rule (1) (a) of rule 70 of the said rules
the word "any one" shall be omitted. Sub rule (1) of rule 71 of the said rules
shall be substituted by the following:- If the Presiding Officer is satisfied that
owing to blindness or other physical infirmity an elector is unable to recognize
the symbol on the ballot paper or to make a mark thereon without any
assistance, the Presiding Officer shall permit the elector, to take with him a
companion of not less than 18 year of age to the voting compartment for
recording the vote on the ballot paper or mark the vote in case of the
electronic voting machine being used on his behalf in accordance with his
wishes and, for folding the ballot paper so as to keep secret the vote and
inserting it into the ballot box. Provided that no person shall be allowed to
act as an associate of more than one voter at any polling station on the same
day; Provided also that if a person is permitted
to be an associate on the day of election under these rules, he shall make a
declaration in Form 18(a) to the person that he will keep the vote of the voter
cast by him secret and that he has not worked as an associate to any other
voter at any other polling station on that day. In sub-rule (1) of rule 73 of the said rule
the word "Candidate, Election Agent or Polling Agent" shall be
substituted by the word "Candidate or Election Agent or Polling Agent. Rule 78 of the said rules shall be
substituted by the following:- Account of Ballot Paper and Paper Seal. At the close of voting, the Presiding Officer
shall prepare the ballot paper account in form 23(a) and paper seal account in
form 23(b) and shall keep them in separate envelopes and upon them would write
"Ballot Paper Account"/"Paper Seal Accounts." In case of
voting through electronic voting machine, the account of ballot paper and paper
seal will be prepared in Form 23 (c). (i)
Rule
81 (g) (ii) of the said rules shall be substituted by the following:- After the counting of the ballot papers
contained in all the ballot boxes used at a polling station is completed, the
Returning Officer will make ward wise entries in the result sheet in Form 24
(b) and declare their details. The ward-wise consolidated statement of votes
received in Form 24 (b) of the Chief Councillor/Deputy Chief Councillor will be
prepared in Form 24 (c). (ii)
Rule
81 (h) of the said rules shall be substituted by the following:- Separate bundle of valid ballot papers and
ballot papers under objection of each candidate will be made and those bundles
will be kept in a separate packets which will be sealed by the seal of the
District Returning Officer and on this such candidate, his election agent or
counting agent, if any and desiring to put their seal on the bundles and
packets, they can also put their seal and the following details will be
mentioned, as under: (i)
Name
of the post; (ii)
Name
of the ward; (iii)
Particulars
of the polling station where the ballot papers have been used; And (iv)
Date
of counting. Rule 85 of the said rules shall be
substituted by the following:- Procedure to be followed in case of
Electronic Voting Machine/e-voting being conducted.:- (1)
Electronic
Voting Machine. In case of use of electronic voting machine
for voting, recording and counting of votes, seal of the machine and the
procedure to be followed for declaration of result etc. shall be adopted as
instructed by the State Election Commission; Provided that, as far as practicable, where
the Electronic Voting Machine will be used, a table of the same type as
displayed in the data relating to various candidates in the control unit shall
be prepared and a hard copy of all the data will be made on that copy. A gauze envelope
will be placed with the signature of the candidate or his election agent and
after sealing it with a secret seal specially supplied to each Returning
Officer by the State Election Commission and it will be kept in the custody of
District Election Officer. The action of the custody and destruction of the
said sealed envelope will be done under rule 89. The secret seal supplied by
the commission will definitely be returned to the Commission within 36 hours of
the declaration of the result. (2)
e-voting. In case of use of electronic devices, other
than electronic voting machines, such as laptops, palmtops, android/IOS based
Smart Phones, servers etc; voting, recording and counting of votes, recorded
voting stored on the server procedure of encrypted security for locking by use
and declaration of result will be specified by the State Election Commission. Provided that as far as practicable, where
electronic devices, other than electronic voting machines will be used for
voting, a hard copy of all the data shall be made in the same manner as the
data relating to different candidate is displayed in the server and on that
copy, and the signatures of all the present candidates or their Election Agent
and Returning Officer will be kept in a gauzed envelope. At the same time the
said data will also be copied to the external hard disc in an un-editable
format. The signed hard copy and the copied hard-disc together with the secret
seal specially supplied by the State Election Commission to each Returning
Officer shall be kept in the custody of the District Returning Officer. The
custody and destruction of the said seal envelope will be done under rule 89.
The secret seal supplied by the Commission will be returned to the Commission
without fail within 36 hours of the declaration of the election result. Rule 87 of the said rules shall be
substituted by the following:- Publication of the names of the elected Chief
Councillors, Deputy Chief Councillors and Councillors.- The District Election
Officer shall forth with cause the name of the Chief Councillor, Deputy Chief
Councillors and all the Councillors elected in the municipality reported to him
under sub-rule (1) of Rule 86, to be published in his office, in the office of
the Sub-Divisional officer, in the office of municipality and in such other
places as he may think fit, and shall communicate a copy or the list of names
so published to the state govt. for publication in the official gazette and to
the State Election commission. Sub-rule (2) of rule 89 of the said rules
shall be substituted by the following:- Other documents relating to the election
shall be preserved until the next General Election and shall be destroyed
subject to the orders of the State Election Commission or the authority concern
under section 476 of the Act. Rule 97 of the said rules shall be
substituted by the following:- In case of an indirectly elected Chief
Councillor and Deputy Chief Councillor to fill a casual vacancy in a
Municipality, the procedure prescribed in Rules 93 to 96 shall apply. Sub-rule (2) of rule 100 of the said rules
shall be substituted by the following:- No candidate or his election agent shall
spend or be authorized to spend more than the following amount in the conduct
and management of election in any ward:- (i)
Twenty
thousand rupees in the case of a ward of a Nagar Panchayat; (ii)
Fourty
thousand rupees in the case of a ward of the Municipal Council; (iii)
In
the case of a ward of a Municipal Corporation having a population of 4000-10000,
Sixty thousand rupees; (iv)
In
the case of a ward of a Municipal Corporation having a population of
10001-20000, Eighty thousand rupees; (v)
In
the case of Chief Councillor and Deputy Chief Councillor, the ward-wise fixed
amount for the concerned body will be half of the multiplier of the total
number of wards of that body. (vi)
any
candidate who has incurred expenditure in excess of the amount aforesaid either
by himself or by his election agent and has not kept a separate and true
account of all the expenses incurred in the election, or fails to present the
account of the election expenditure within a period of thirty days from the
date of declaration of the result, shall be liable to be punished as per law. Sub rule (2) of rule 101 of the said rules
shall be substituted by the following:- The election expenditure account will be
maintained by the candidate or his election agent in the form mentioned in
Appendix-1. For this, a register will be made available to all the concerned
candidate by the Returning Officer. Sub-rule (1) of rule 113 of the said rules
the word "Ward" shall be substituted with the word "Ward/Seat". In the said rules, in rule 114 shall be
substituted by the following:- Bye-election- When the seat of any Chief
Councillor, Deputy Chief Councillor and Councillor elected to the Municipality
becomes vacant or is declared vacant or an election to the seat is declared
cancel in the Municipality, then the District Election Officer shall inform the
Commission of that. The Commission will take action to fill up the vacancy
subject to the provisions of the Act and these rules.BIHAR
MUNICIPAL ELECTION (AMENDMENT) RULES, 2022
PREAMBLE