Come 2016 and nobody will be able to contest elections under the three-tier panchayati raj system in Bihar if they do not have a toilet at home.

The state government is banking on the upcoming panchayat elections in March-April 2016 to spearhead its campaign to stop defecation in the open.

It will cover 8,405 village panchayats comprising 43,314 villages, spread across 38 districts in the state.

Bihar, according to the public health engineering department (PHED) statistics, has 1.63 crore families without toilets in their homes, and they are compelled to relieve themselves in agriculture fields, or along roads and railway tracks.

The Bihar Panchayat Raj Act 2006 has been amended for this purpose, and a notification has been issued that says toilets will be mandatory for all contesting candidates at all levels from January 1, 2016.

Section 136 (1) of the act was amended to make toilets mandatory for contestants.

Anybody who wants to contest panchayat elections after January 1, 2016, will have to provide an affidavit while filing nominations, saying he or she has a functional toilet at home," panchayati raj department officer on special duty Bharat Jha told The Telegraph.

The official added that the amendments were made in light of the announcements made by chief minister Nitish Kumar at a function in 2013 and his recent pledge do away with the harmful practice of open defecation.

PHED project management unit director Sadullah Jawaid, who is overseeing the campaign to stop open defecation under Swachh Bharat Mission and Lohia Swachhta Yojana in Bihar, expressed happiness over the initiative and said it will go a long way to promote use of toilets in the state.

"There are around 1.25 lakh seats under the panchayati raj institutions in the state and if five or six candidates contest for each of them on an average, it will ensure that six to seven lakh persons will have toilets in their houses. This will have a good effect on their families," he said.

Sadullah also said the contestants led a public life and thus, would have the power to influence people in their area to construct toilets in their houses and stop defecating in the open.

"The move will have a big impact on the state, and will go a long way in stopping defecation in the open," he said.

The official said the department provided an incentive of Rs 12,000 to families below and above poverty line so that they can construct toilets and overhead water storage facility.

Around 90 per cent families in the state come under these two categories while the rest are given Rs 4,600 as incentive because they are relatively better off.

A ground reality check among the present elected representatives of the panchayati raj institutions revealed that a mere 15 per cent have toilets at their houses.

Vinod Rajak, the mukhiya of Dugul panchayat under Rafiganj block in Aurangabad district, has a toilet in his house.

He said only two of the total 13 ward members have toilets at their homes.

A similar situation exists in Bangama panchayat in Araria district, where the present mukhiya, Mohammad Moharram, said several of the ward members have no toilets in their houses and no inclination to construct them either.

The new rule in contesting elections will prove beneficial under these circumstances.