Bihar elections 2025: Voting on November 6 and 11, counting on November 14
EC unveils Bihar poll schedule, introduces 17 reforms to boost voter transparency
Dubai: The Bihar Assembly elections will be held in two phases — on November 6 and November 11 — with counting on November 14, the Election Commission announced on Monday afternoon, NDTV reported.
Of the state’s 243 Assembly seats, 121 will vote in the first phase and the remaining 122 in the second. The dates align with what sources earlier told NDTV — that voting would take place after Chhath Puja and Diwali (October 18–28), allowing maximum participation.
The election will see a high-stakes battle between the BJP–Janata Dal (United) alliance and the Mahagathbandhan led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress. Poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who helped engineer notable victories for Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee, will make his electoral debut this time with his party Jan Suraaj, contesting all 243 seats.
Key takeaways
Two-phase election: Voting on November 6 and November 11; counting on November 14.
243 Assembly seats: 121 constituencies in Phase 1 and 122 in Phase 2.
New reforms: EC rolls out 17 initiatives for cleaner voter rolls, transparency, and faster results.
Voter roll controversy
The campaign unfolds amid a heated debate over the Election Commission’s “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls — a move that reduced registered voters from 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore.
Opposition parties alleged the revision aimed to disenfranchise marginalised communities, while the Election Commission said it was meant to purify voter lists by removing ineligible names, including non-citizens. The issue reached the Supreme Court, which recently noted the process could be halted if any illegality was proven.
17 new initiatives
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the upcoming Bihar elections would set a benchmark for electoral reforms nationwide.
The 17 new measures to be introduced across India include:
Training for booth-level agents and officers on voter roll management and appeals under the RP Act, 1950.
Police sensitisation to strengthen law-and-order preparedness.
Enhanced remuneration and allowances for polling and counting staff.
Faster voter-ID delivery within 15 days, with SMS tracking updates.
Photo IDs for BLOs to increase transparency in field operations.
Mobile deposit counters outside polling booths.
Improved voter information slips for easier verification.
Real-time turnout updates every two hours via the ECINet app.
Polling-station cap of 1,200 voters to cut crowding.
100% webcasting for all polling stations.
Clearer EVM ballot papers with candidates’ colour photographs.
Mandatory VVPAT verification in every mismatch case.
Streamlined postal-ballot counting before the final round of EVM counting.
Digital index cards and constituency-level data for public access.
The Election Commission also announced eight Assembly bye-elections, including two in Jammu and Kashmir and one each in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, Mizoram, and Odisha.
The poll body clarified that verified voters have already been issued new ID cards and that new applications will now be processed within 15 days, ensuring all eligible voters can cast their ballot.
Political background
The 2020 Bihar elections resulted in a narrow victory for the BJP-led alliance with 125 seats, against 110 for the Mahagathbandhan. Since then, Nitish Kumar has twice switched alliances — first leaving the BJP to join the Mahagathbandhan and later returning to the saffron bloc — reshaping Bihar’s political scene.
The 2025 polls will also mark the start of a busy election cycle, with Assam, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu voting in 2026 and Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in 2027 — all paving the way for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
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