Bihar election 2025 results: When discussions will be held about Bihar assembly elections 2025, it will be on changing dynamics, increased enthusiasm in voters and about the role of youths and women in the politics of the state that has largely seen only one debate – ‘jungle raaj vs sushashan babu’. In just a few hours, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will begin the counting of votes polled during the two-phased elections in Bihar.
What began as a usual electoral battle between the two rival factions of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Mahagathbandhan (MGB), later turned into a fiery fight of prestige. NDA reiterated the elections were being fought under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
If the alliance retains power, Nitish is likely to become the CM for the fifth time. But if it does not, it is Tejashwi Yadav who will lead Bihar for the next five years. The run up to the 243-seat assembly election results saw historic voter participation – 66.91% – a first in the history of the state.
Both NDA and MGB say the turnout favours them. Does it? The EVMs will open the suspense and end the clouds of confusion by this evening. Till then, here’s a look at what headlines the Bihar election 2025:
Bihar elections 2025 in 10 points
1. Special Intensive Revision (SIR): The decision of Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct an overall revision of the voter roll in Bihar, right before the elections, stirred a massive row. With a tight deadline of Sept 30 in place, the ECI rolled out instructions that the opposition argued were too much to understand in a short time. They labelled the exercise as an attempt of “vote chori or vote theft”. They alleged the ECI would delete the names of those who would vote for the MGB. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav took out massive “vote adhikar” rallies across Bihar to make people aware about what they think SIR would do.
2. SC hears SIR: The matter of the SIR reached the Supreme Court. Multiple hearings were held and the court passed several orders, mostly in favour of petitioners who sought release of 65 lakh deleted names initially and inclusion of Aadhaar in the identity document list. But the top court refused to stay the SIR, though it questioned the timing. The rallies meanwhile continued in the state.
3. ECI presser on ‘vote chori’ and final roll: Following intense allegations by LoP Rahul Gandhi and others, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar held a press conference to respond to the accusations. The press conference was a detailed one. The CEC addressed questions on many houses having addresses as “zero”, the names, the photographs and what SIR is. However, several experts and journalists believed that the presser did not entirely quash what Rahul Gandhi alleged. The exercise continued.
When the final roll came out on Sept 30, the CED held another presser. He mentioned that in overall, 42 lakh names were deleted due to various reasons including, some being illegal immigrants. However, the CEC did not give an exact number for those removed as illegal foreigners.
4. Seat-sharing dilemma: The election dates were announced on Oct 6. With a month in hand, the political parties shifted their focus on issues, different sections of people, manifestos and alliance partners. In both factions — NDA and MGB — the deal was tough. Both had more partners than the last time, and there were demands of seats that could not be fulfilled. From Patna to Delhi, numerous meetings were held on both sides. Reports of discomfort among NDA allies surfaced.
Yet, the NDA was first to announce seat sharing. The BJP and JD(U) agreed on 101 seats each, Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) got 29 against a demand of 40; HAM and RLM were allotted 6 seats each. But the MGB’s huddles seemed never ending. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) even ditched MGB saying the talks are taking too much time. On the last date of nomination for the phase 1, leaders of RJD, Congress and left rushed to file the nomination. Reports mentioned of some deal was there but nothing official.
RJD, later, released a list of 143 candidates and Congress fielded 61 candidates. VIP, IIP and others were allotted from the remaining seats.
5. The big ‘jobs’ promise: Bihar polls this time were all about headlines that the politicians made through their statements. Tejashwi Yadav, MGB’s CM candidate, made one such promise – one government to every household in Bihar. The remark drew criticism from the ruling side. They asked “where will the jobs come from?”. Jan Suraaj questioned Tejashwi’s maths, but the RJD leader remained firm. He made another statement – a law to ensure the jobs promise 20 days after government formation, further intensifying the debate but attracting the voters.
6. Women of Bihar: Like always, women remained a key focus for all. NDA banked on its schemes, and then, launched some new. Rs 10,000 to eligible beneficiaries under Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, to support their businesses. The amount was sent during the election campaign, and the opposition labelled it as a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
Nitish Kumar tripled the widow pension, Asha workers’ pay and more.
The MGB came out with its promises. Rs 2,500 for women every month under “Mai Behen Maan’ scheme, and Rs 30,000 on Makar Sankranti.
7. Voter turnout: The voting for the Bihar election 2025 was held in two phases — Nov 6 (121 seats) and Nov 11 (122 seats). Voters decided the fate of 2,616 candidates across 38 districts. The turnout in both was historic and the voters broke their own record of the first phase 1 in the later phase. The overall voter turnout stood at 67.13%, highest ever in Bihar. A whopping 62.98% of males voted while women outnumbered them with 71.58% of them reporting at poll booths. After the SIR, a total of 7.42 crore of voters were eligible to cast votes. The huge turnout stirred another debate — who is the people’s choice -, NDA or MGB?
8. Exit polls: The one who loses always rejects the exit polls, but yet, they remain relevant. Despite having not been able to hit on mark in the last few polls, the polling agencies tried their luck again. And the majority have predicted a victory for the NDA. But one of the top pollsters, Axis My India, hinted at a close battle.
The exit polls also showed that women have voted for the NDA more than the MGB, but the youths (aged 18-29) have gone with the MGB.
Here’s what the exit polls looked like:
| Exit Poll Name | NDA | Mahagathbandhan | Jan Suraaj | Others |
| People’s Pulse | 133–159 | 75-101 | 0-5 | 2-8 |
| DV Research | 137-152 | 83-98 | 2-4 | 1-8 |
| JVC exit polls | 142 | 95 | 1 | 5 |
| Matrize | 147-167 | 70-90 | – | – |
| P-Marq | 142-162 | 80-98 | 1-4 | 0-3 |
| Today’s Chanakya | 142-172 | 65-89 | – | 3-9 |
| Axis My India | 121-142 | 98-118 | 0-2 | 1-7 |
9. Jan Suraaj’s future: The biggest hit, if exit polls are to be believed, will be taken by Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party. None of the polls give even 10 seats to the “third option”, as PK referred to his party. The setback will be significant if the party scores worse than some small regional parties.
10. The CM choice: Most of the polls showed people want Tejashwi Yadav as the CM, but still NDA seems to be the first choice as an alliance to them. However, the opposition alleged throughout the campaign that the NDA will ditch Nitish Kumar if they win. Well, there have been apprehensions about Nitish Kumar’s physical and mental capability and doubts over another tenure. But the NDA said it was fighting under Kumar’s leadership, but didn’t name him as the CM.
The BJP is known to throw surprises when it comes to CM face. Will it be something similar in Bihar if NDA wins? The first mystery will be that of the winner who will be announced by the evening. Though the polls will end, the political show in Bihar still is far from over.
