Bihar to Vote in Two Phases on Nov 6 and 11; Counting on Nov 14

PTI, Patna, Oct 6, 2025 : Bihar will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11 and votes will be counted on November 14 to decide the fate of the ruling NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the challenge posed by the opposition bloc comprising the RJD and Congress among others. The election in the politically important state this time has a third force in the form of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, while a Special Intensive Review (SIR), which Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar repeatedly described as "shuddhikaran" (purification), of the voter list has already charged up the electoral process.

Announcing the schedule, Kumar said elections will be held in 121 seats of the 243-member Assembly on November 6, while the remaining 122 constituencies will go to polls on November 11. The counting of votes will be held on November 14. In the outgoing Assembly, the ruling NDA has 138 members, while the Opposition alliance has 103 members in the 243-member Assembly.

As many as 7.42 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise across 90,712 polling stations, all of which have webcast facilities to ensure transparent elections. The assembly elections in Bihar will be held in two phases, polling for which will be held on November 6 and 11 while the counting of votes will be done on November 14, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced on Monday. The entire election process will be concluded by November 16.

"Bihar elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. Counting of votes will be done on November 14," Kumar said at a press conference.

"It is mandatory to complete counting of postal ballots before the last two rounds of counting of votes," he added.

While 121 assembly constituencies will go to the polls in the first phase, voting will be held in 122 assembly constituencies in the second phase. Kumar termed the Bihar elections as "mother of all elections".

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.

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