Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: Polling to be held in two phases from Nov 6, counting on Nov 14 | Full Schedule
Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: The Election Commission of India has announced the polling schedule for the high-stakes assembly polls in Bihar. The elections would be held in two phases - November 6 and November 11.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced the polling schedule for the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly. As per the poll body, the polling would be held in two phases and the counting of votes will take place on November 14. While the first phase would be held on November 6, the second phase will take place on November 11.
In the first phase, polling will take place on 121 seats, while the voting in second phase will be held on 122 seats, the poll body announced.
For the first phase, the last date of filing nominations is October 17 while the scrutiny will be held on October 18. The last date of withdrawal of candidature for first phase elections is October 20. Similarly, for the second phase, the last date of filing nominations is October 20 while scrutiny will be held on October 21. The last date of withdrawal of candidature for the second phase elections is October 23.
Announcing the dates for the Bihar elections at a press conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar also lauded its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive and said that it has 'sanitised' the electoral rolls, noting that the final draft was published on September 30. Kumar also said that the poll body wants to ensure that elections are held in 'transparent and peaceful manner', noting that counting of postal ballots will be completed before the last two rounds of counting of votes.
Out of the 243 seats in Bihar, Kumar said 38 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), and two seats for the Scheduled Tribes (STs). The state has 7.42 crore voters -- 3.92 crore male voters, 3.50 crore female voters, and 1,725 transgender voters, he said, while highlighting that 14.01 lakh of them are first time voters.
"The Election Commission intends to conduct peaceful, fair, and transparent elections. For this to happen, the Commission expects cooperation from all political parties, voters, and the media," Kumar said. "To maintain transparency, webcasting will be done from 100 per cent of the booths, compared to 50 per cent earlier. Previously, candidates were unhappy with their black-and-white photographs on EVMs; this time, their photos will be in colour, and the font size has also been increased."
The term of the current Bihar Assembly ends on November 22.
Three-phase elections in Bihar in 2020
The 2020 assembly elections in Bihar were held in three phases. The first phase was conducted on October 28 and the second phase was held on November 3. On the other hand, the third phase was conducted on November 7. Meanwhile, the results were declared by the poll body on November 10, with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) edging past the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan by just 15 seats.
While the NDA - which included the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Mukesh Sahani's Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and the Hindustani Awam Morcha back then - won 125 seats, the Mahagathbandhan - which included the RJD, Congress and the Left parties in 2020 - emerged victorious on 110 seats.
Voter turnout in Bihar assembly elections 2020
The overall voter turnout in 2020 Bihar elections was 57.05 per cent - 54.68 per cent among the males and the 59.58 per cent among the females. In the first phase, the voter turnout was 55.68 per cent. Meanwhile, the voter turnout in second and third phases was 55.70 per cent and 59.94 per cent, respectively.