The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday, October 6, officially announced the schedule for the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025. The polls will be conducted in two phases on November 6 and 11, with the counting of votes scheduled for November 14. The entire election process, including all formalities, will be completed by November 22, 2025.
During a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar highlighted the scale of the elections, stating, "There are a total of 7.42 crore voters in Bihar, of which 3.92 crore are males and 3.5 crore are women. There are 14 lakh first-time voters and 4 lakh senior citizen voters. At least 14,000 voters in the state are aged above 100 years. A total of 90,712 polling stations are being set up in Bihar."
The CEC assured the public of a secure and transparent voting process, adding, "Strict directives have been given to the administration for zero tolerance to any violence, and there is no scope for any threat to voters or candidates."
The upcoming elections are expected to be a high-stakes battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) alliance and the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, which includes the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
In Bihar's 243-seat Assembly, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) currently holds 138 seats—with BJP having 84 seats, JDU 48, HAM(S) 4, and 2 independents supporting the alliance. The RJD has 71 MLAs, while Congress holds 17 seats from the 2020 polls.
