In which year did Bihar become the first state in India to reserve fifty per cent of the seats in panchayati raj institutions for women?

The correct answer is C, 2006. Bihar amended its panchayat law and held the panchayat elections of 2006 with half the seats, and half the posts of chairperson, reserved for women, which made it the first state in the country to go beyond the constitutional minimum. Several states followed in the years after.

Option A, 1993, is the year in which the Seventy-third Amendment came into force, on 24 April, and it fixed the floor of not less than one-third of the seats for women under Article 243D; the amendment allows a state to give more, and that is what Bihar did. Option B, 2001, and Option D, 2011, are census years and have no connection with the reservation, though they are plausible because panchayat seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to population as recorded in the census. The elections were conducted by the Bihar State Election Commission, the body created under Article 243K, and not by the Election Commission of India.