Bihar Election 2025 Highlights: Campaigning, announcements, rallies done; all eyes on Phase 1 voting tomorrow

Ahead of the first phase of voting in the Bihar Assembly tomorrow, Central City Patna SP, Diksha elaborated on the security arrangements that are in place.

She said area domination will be done and patrolling parties will conduct raids tonight.

“From morning, there will be checks at the zonal and super zonal levels. Quick Response Teams have been formed. Communication channels have been established. We expect voters to vote peacefully. Women-specific and disability-friendly booths are being set up. CAPF and State Police have been deployed at every polling station. Boats have been arranged for polling parties,” she said.

In Aurangabad, Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor said the party only has one appeal to the people of Bihar, to choose the third alternative they have presented before them.

“In the last 3 years, you’ve been shown the path to vote once for your children, for their education and employment. Vote for this. After November 14, no child should have to leave their home and family for Rs 10-12,000. During Chhath, people suffer every year. This time, make such arrangements that Bihar’s children don’t have to go elsewhere out of Bihar,” he said.

With just a little over 12 hours left for the first phase of Bihar election 2025, the dispatching of EVMs has begun. Polling staff are taking the machines, and other necessary details to reach their designated polling booth tomorrow, Nov 6.

In Munger and Jamalpur Assembly constituencies, a total of (165, 166 EVMs were dispatched under tight security.

“There are a total of 1,208 polling stations in Munger district. The district administration has made all necessary preparations to ensure free and fair elections at every polling station…” Commissioner Avnish Kumar Singh said.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, during a rally in Bihar’s Sitamarhi, said, “During the Congress era, terrorists used to carry out attacks in Delhi and even fire inside the Lok Sabha — Congress lacked the strength to act. But under Prime Minister Modi, if Pakistan plants one bomb, we will respond a hundredfold…”

On Rahul Gandhi’s claims of vote rigging in Haryana elections, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta asked why should anyone believe him.

“Is Rahul Gandhi the Election Commission, God or some certificate-giving agency? Why should people believe him?… Congress used to win until voters were not required to cast their votes on Voter ID cards. Once voter ID cards were made compulsory, Congress stopped winning. In their rule, they captured booths and even imposed an Emergency to protect their chair… People are not going to fall for all this, NDA is going to form the govt in Bihar…” she added.

Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi after his presser on Haryana elections, the ECI said the party and its BLO filed “zero appeals” against electoral rolls and only 22 election petitions were currently pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

An election petition can be filed within 45 days of the announcement of results in the high court of that state. “What were the polling agents of INC doing in the polling stations? They are supposed to object if the elector has already voted or if the polling agents doubt the identity of the elector,” the official said.

The election commission has called Rahul Gandhi’s vote manipulation charge “unfounded”, adding that no appeals were filed against the electoral rolls in Haryana.

An official told news agency PTI that why the Congress party’s booth agents did not flag voters who had cast vote multiple times in the Haryana assembly elections in October 2024.

“Why were no claims and objections raised by INC’s Booth Level Agents during revision to avoid multiple names?” the official added.

During an election rally in Chanpatia, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that people have been made here to believe they have to deal with hardship.

“For 20 years, the government in Bihar has conditioned you to live this way, offering no real help or hope. But remember, this land is not ordinary, it’s the soil where India’s freedom movement began. From Champaran, your ancestors, the farmers of this region, inspired Mahatma Gandhi to launch a movement that shook the empire,” she added.

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor holds a roadshow in Kargahar, Sasaram.

Polling staff receive EVMs and election materials for Diara area. They will reach booths by boat equipped with portable lights ahead of Bihar elections. Visuals from Danapur.

A polling official says, “We’ve received the complete EVM set, along with all the special packets. The general accessories that we got yesterday are also with us. We’ve also been provided with lights so that we don’t face any problems if there’s no electricity.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is addressing a public rally in Valmiki Nagar.

She said the BJP keeps abusing Jawaharlal Nehru, blaming him for every single flaw. “Today, an American person (Zohran Mamdani) has won the election, and he spoke about Jawaharlal Nehru. And here, BJP leaders are abusing him,” she said.

Addressing a press conference over Congress MP and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi’s Haryana vote theft claim, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Congress MP addressed the press to hide his failures.

“There will be polling in Bihar (tomorrow), however, he was sharing stories about Haryana. This shows that the Congress has nothing left in Bihar and this is why to deviate attention he is raking up Haryana issue. I would advise him that being Leader of Opposition, he should talk on serious issues and not waste time over irrelevant issues,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi should know that running the country is not game for children, said Rajnath Singh at Jamui rally in Bihar.

“Rahul Gandhi trying to create anarchy by demanding reservations in defence forces. Rahul Gandhi should know that running the country is not game for children,” he added.

With a day left for Phase 1, parties are not gearing for the campaigning for phase 2, to be held on Nov 11.

For the same, preparations underway for PM Modi’s rally on November 6; seating arranged for 1 lakh people. Candidates from 12 districts will be sharing the stage.

At the end of his presser, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi made an appeal to the GenZ and youth of the country.

He said, “…I want the young people of India, especially Gen Z, to understand clearly, because this concerns your future. What is being done is being taken from you; you are being robbed of your future. So it is important that you listen carefully and observe. As I have said many times, I take what I say on this stage very seriously…”

Intensifying his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and NDA leaders, Rahul Gandhi said, “What we are doing is making it crystal clear to the people of India what has happened. We are informing the people of India that the PM, HM are not legitimately in Govt, that the CM of Haryana is not legitimately in Govt, that the Govt has been stolen.”

In his presser, Rahul Gandhi asked why EC was not removing ‘duplicate’ voters from electoral list even though it has software to do so.

“NDA wants to form govt in Bihar through ‘vote chori’, deleted names of 65L electors, including women, alleges Priyanka in West Champaran,” he said, adding that the ECI is adopting systematic method to ‘kill’ Constitution and Indian democracy.

A day ahead of the first phase voting in the Bihar assembly polls, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said there is a clear wave in favour of the NDA and asserted that the ruling alliance will form the next government in the state with a two-thirds majority.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, addressing a press conference, said that a woman appears 223 times in the polling and can vote any number of times she wants.

“The Election Commission has the data of how many times she voted. This is the reason the EC destroyed the CCTV footage,” he alleged.

Rahul Gandhi claimed that 1.24 lakh voters with fake photos in Haryana electoral list.

“We have crystal clear proof that 25 lakh voters (in Haryana) are fake, that they either don’t exist or they are duplicate or are designed in a way for anybody to vote…1 in 8 voters in Haryana are fake, that’s 12.5%…” he said.

Addressing the press conference, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi said that a Brazilian model voted 22 times in Haryana.

“…Congress lost the election by 22,000 votes…Who is this lady?…She votes 22 times in Haryana, in 10 different booths in Haryana. She has multiple names…That means this is a centralised operation…The lady is a Brazilian model. That’s a stock photograph and she is one of 25 lakh such records in Haryana…”

In a massive allegation against the election commission of India, Rahul Gandhi said that vote theft of 25 lakh votes took place in Haryana.

“…it includes 5.21 lakh duplicate voters, 93,174 invalid voters and 19.26 lakh bulk voters,” he added.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, addressing a press conference, said that all the exit polls pointed to a Congress victory

“… It is clear that it is a massive sweep. For the first time in Haryana, the electoral victory and postal votes were different from the actual voting,” he said.

Addressing a presser questioning Haryana election results, Rahul Gandhi said, ” We have the word ‘H’ Files and this is about how an entire state has been stolen…”

“We suspected that this is not happening in individual constituencies, but at the state level and at the national level. We got a lot of complaints in Haryana, from our candidates, that something was wrong and not working. Their predictions all went upside down. We had experienced this in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra but we decided to zoom into Haryana and go into details about what had happened there,” he added.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has begun addressing a presser on ‘vote chori’, questioning the Haryana election results.

Jan suraj candidate form Munger, Sanjay Singh decided to back NDA candidate a day before polling.

“Considering the current political situation and circumstances, I am extending my support to ensure NDA’s victory. I will work to help them win, and I am confident they will win by a large margin of votes,” he said.

On security arrangements for Bihar elections first phase, SSP Kumar Ashish said they have received an SDRF boat and mounted police have also been deployed.

“The identified criminals have been transferred to other districts and continuous flag marches are being held to create a fear-free atmosphere among the public,” he said.

The BJP has slammed the RJD for calling a minor at their rally, who went on to glorify country-made gun ‘katta’, if Tejashwi Yadav-led alliance wins election.

RJD leader Mrityunjay Tiwari responded to Amit Shah’s claim of NDA’s massive victory in the state.

“Amit Shah is speaking as if this is not a democracy. They don’t trust the people. This arrogance of power is not right. This will ruin the BJP and NDA in Bihar. NDA won’t even get 60 seats in Bihar, and they are dreaming of 160…” he said.

On the Bihar Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said the elections will prove to be a complete flop show for the Mahagathbandhan.

“There is no anti-incumbency even after 20 years…The NDA could win more than 170 seats…” he added.