Bihar Election 2025: Can you vote without Voter ID? The answer may just surprise you

The Election Commission (EC) announced key dates for the Bihar election and bypoll to eight assembly constituencies across seven states on Monday, 6 October.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that the election to 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly will be held in two phases. The voting in the first phase will be held on 6 November, and in the second phase, it will be held on 11 November.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission decided to hold bye-elections to fill vacancies in the eight Assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, Mizoram and Odisha.

Voting in the bypolls for the eight assembly seats will be held on 11 November.

The results for the bypolls and the Bihar elections will be declared together on 14 November.

To vote in these elections, the voter must have an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), also called a Voter ID card. In case a voter does not have it, he/she can carry any of the below-mentioned recognised ID cards for polling.

What Identification should I bring to vote?

1. EPIC (Voter ID card)

2. Passport

3. Driving License

4. Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies

5. Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office

6. PAN Card

7. Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR

8. MNREGA Job Card (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee)

9. Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour

10. Pension document with photograph

11. Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs

12. Aadhaar Card

A photo voter slip will not be accepted as a stand-alone identification document for voting.

Bihar Election 2025 full schedule

The term of the current Bihar Assembly ends on 22 November. Bihar has 243 constituencies, including two reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 38 for Scheduled Castes.

Bye-election 2025: Full schedule here

The bypolls on 11 November 2025 will be held on these assembly seats: Rajasthan's Anta, Ghatsila in Jharkhand, Jubilee Hills in Telangana, Tarn Taran in Punjab, Dampa in Mizoram, Nuapada in Odisha, and two assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir — Budgam and Nagrota.