Bihar Elections 2025: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday gave a detailed outlook of the preparations it has done for the upcoming assembly elections in the states. From the integration of technology to voter-friendly initiatives, the ECI gave a presentation on 17 new steps it has taken in Bihar. Addressing the media, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar talked about how they plan to implement the changes and the way elections will be conducted before Nov 22, 2025. 

He said 17 new initiatives have been successfully implemented in Bihar, of which, “some will be implemented in the conduct of elections, and some in counting”.

Speaking on the competition of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, the CEC said the responsibility to prepare the voter list is with the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). “In Bihar, there is an ERO in each of the 243 assembly constituencies. Together, they, along with 243 EROs and 90,207 BLOs, completed the task of cleansing the voter list after nearly 22 years…” the poll panel chief said. 

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What was ECI’s presser all about?

There were speculations that the ECI may announce the dates for Bihar elections on Sunday, but the poll body did not say anything on the possible dates of voting or the number of phases. The team of ECI, comprising the CEC and the election commissioners, visited Bihar on Saturday-Sunday to meet political parties and review the poll preparations. 

On Saturday, the official met representatives of 12 recognised political parties and noted their suggestions on conduct of Bihar elections as well other matters related to it. The ECI then met with district and other senior officials of the district regarding the election preparedness. 

The panel, in Patna, briefed the media about their plan and mode to conduct a free and fair election in Bihar. As for the dates, no announcement has been made and it is likely the election commission would declare the same sometime next week. 

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ECI’s 17 new initiatives in Bihar

In the presser, CEC Gyanesh Kumar announced several new initiatives that will be enforced in Bihar, and later on across the country. 

1. The ECI said that for the first time, it conducted training of all booth-level agents from Bihar a few months ago outside the state, in Delhi. 

2. More than 7,000 BLOs and BLO supervisors from across the country and Bihar were trained at IIIDEM, Delhi.

3. In a first, the ECI conducted special sessions for Bihar police to reinforce law-and-order preparedness during the elections in the state.

4. The SIR purified the electoral roll and ensured that no eligible elector is left out and no ineligible person is included in the final list.

5. CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that remuneration was doubled for BLOs and enhanced for BLO supervisors in Bihar. Apart from them, monitoring staff, CAPF, polling and counting staff were also provided increased remuneration. He said the EROs and AEROs were provided honorarium or the firm time. Furthermore, the provision of refreshment was also enhanced.

6. ECI has analysed all steps of voter id card delivery and now the new EPIC card will be delivered 15 days after an update in the electoral roll.

7. Identity cards have been introduced for booth-level officials to allow voters to identify them when the BLOs approach them.

8. The ECI said that voters will now be able to leave their mobiles outside the polling booth at designated counters and will have to collect them after casting their vote.

9. Voters will not be given a clearer voter information slip (VIS), marked in red colour to avoid any confusion.

10. The Election Commission said it has leveraged technology over the years, gradually developing nearly 40 separate applications for voters and stakeholders. “To simplify this, all these applications have been integrated into a single computer platform called One Stop Digital Platform, ECINET,” the CEC added. He said real-time voting data will also be updated on the app.

11. Starting from Bihar, every polling booth will only have 1200 voters casting their vote. 

12. As per the new rule, the candidates can now set their booths just beyond 100 metres from any polling station on the day of voting.

13. The ECI will do the 100% webcasting at all booths during Bihar elections to monitor critical activities.

14. Starting with the Bihar elections, the serial number font on ballot paper will be larger across the country. Besides this, coloured photos of candidates will now appear on EVMs during Bihar polls, and later in other elections.

15. CEC Gyanesh Kumar said that if any mismatch is found in EVM counting units, VVPATs will be recounted.

16. The CEC said that it will now be compulsory that postal ballots be counted before the final two rounds of EVM counting.

17. After the election is over, many people want to know how many voters there were, how many men voted, and how many women voted. Hence, the ECI is gradually working on digital index cards that will be made available within a few days of the election’s conclusion.