New Delhi | Oct, 6 : The Election Commission on Monday announced the schedule for the Bihar Assembly elections. The 243 Assembly seats will go to the polls in two phases on November 6 and November 11 with counting of votes to be held on November 14.
In the 2015 election, RJD won 80 seats woth 18.8 % vote share while its ally the Congress won 27 seats with a vote share of 6.8%. The JDU which at the time was also part of the Mahagathbandhan won 71 seats with a vote share of 17.3 %. The BJP won 53 seats with a vote share of 25%, while other parties won 8 seats with a share of 22.5%.The Nitish Kumar –RJD–Congress alliance was short lived with Nitish Kumar walking out and then forming a government with the BJP led NDA in 2017. Sushil Kumar Modi was sworn in as Deputy CM. In the 2020 election Nitish Kumar continued his alliance with the NDA getting a majority in Legislature Assembly by winning 125 seats. In August 2022, Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the BJP and resigned as Chief Minister and formed the government with the RJD–Congress led Mahagathbandhan. He also became a key figure in the formation of the combined opposition-the INDIA bloc.However, Kumar’s romance with the RJD lasted just short of two years and in January 2024, ahead of the Parliamentary polls Kumar walked back to the NDA. This time Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United and the BJP lead an NDA alliance which also has Chirag Paswan’s Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitin Manjhi’s Hindustan Awami Morcha and the Upendra Khushwaha led Rashtriya Lok Shakti Party (RLSP) as its constituents. In these elections, the NDA will be up against the INDIA bloc of the Tejashwi Yadav led RJD, the Congress, the Deepankar Bhattacharya led CPI (ML), CPI, CPM and Mukesh Sahani’s Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP). This time Bihar will also see the entry of a new player in the form of Prashant Kishor and his party Jan Suraaj. The NDA is banking on the Charisma of PM Narendra Modi and the social schemes that the centre and the state have. On September 26, PM Modi launched the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana. Under this ₹10,000 was transferred to the bank accounts of 75 lakh women simultaneously. This scheme is being touted as a game changer. The Prime Minister also launched various youth-focused initiatives worth more than Rs 62,000 crore, including the inauguration of the Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur Skill University in Bihar. The BJP has also focussed on the alleged corruption and crime of the Lalu Yadav era to further strengthen its claims amongst the voters. The INDIA bloc led by former Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav has centred its camapign around three main pillars, the first the high-octane Vote Chori campaign which alleged that the BJP has managed to get the EC to manipulate the Electoral rolls in the state giving it an unfair advantage, the second is the caste-survey which was conducted when the JDU–RJD were in power and promises to up the reservation quotas, while the last surround allegations of widespread unemployment and lack of government jobs. Meanwhile, the Election Commission also published the final electoral roll for the Bihar assembly elections following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The total number of electors in the final list stands at 7.42 crore, while there were 7.89 crore electors as of June 24 this year. An Election Commission press release stated that 65 lakh voters were removed from the draft list, and the number of electors in the draft list as of August 1, 2025, stood at 7.24 crore.It stated that ineligible electors removed from the draft list stood at 3.66 lakh, while 21.53 lakh eligible electors were added to the draft list (Form 6), taking the total to 7.42 crore voters.Over 1.63 lakh electors have been added in 14 assembly constituencies in Patna, according to the district administration.In Madhubani district, 85,645 voters have been added after the draft publication. After the disposal of the claims and objections received, there has been an increase of a total of 56,423 voters in the seven constituencies of the Nalanda district.
