Election Commission to announce schedule for Bihar assembly polls at 4 PM today

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce schedule for Bihar assembly polls today. The poll dates – expected in one or two phases – will be announced at a briefing by poll panel at 4 PM, the Election Commission said.

The term of the incumbent Bihar Assembly is ending on 22 November. So the elections for the 243-member assembly have to be held before that date.

The dates for the elections will come a day after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar-led delegation of the poll panel finished the two-day Bihar visit to review poll preparedness. The delegation included Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

Bihar Election 2025 Dates

This year, the election schedule will take the festivals into account. Chhath and Diwali fall between October 18 and October 28. So, the poll panel will announce the dates accordingly, acccording to sources.

The 2025 Bihar elections is expected to be a contest between the ruling alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal United (JDU) and the Mahagathbandhan, led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress party. Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor is also in the fray with his Jan Suraaj Party.

What happened in Bihar Elections 2024?

In 2020, the Bihar Assembly election was the first exercise held after COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020 Bihar elections were held in three phases on 28 October, 3 November, and 7 November. The results were announced on 10 November.

The incumbent National Democratic Alliance (NDA) emerged as the winner with 125 elected MLAs, whereas the principal opposition coalition of Mahagathbandhan won 110 seats.

7.42 crore voters in Bihar after SIR

On 30 September Election Commission of India published its final electoral roll in Bihar, containing details of 7.42 crore voters, a drop of more than 47 lakh since June, when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was launched.

While the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has been of the view that the exercise was needed to remove “impurities” from the voters' list, in which illegal foreign immigrants may have been included in the past, the opposition has cried foul, accusing the EC of indulging in "vote theft" at the behest of the ruling coalition.