Bihar Elections Set To Be Held Before November 22, CEC Details Election Procedure Changes

Patna, Bihar: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has confirmed that the Assembly elections in Bihar will be held before November 22, 2025, as the term of the Bihar Legislative Assembly ends on that date.

"Bihar has 243 assembly constituencies—2 reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 38 for Scheduled Castes (SCs). The term of the Bihar Legislative Assembly ends on November 22, 2025, and elections will be held before that date. The Election Commission trained booth-level officers for the first time. The Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Initiative for Registration (SIR) was launched on June 24, 2025, and completed by the deadline," Kumar said at a press conference in Patna.

During the press conference, Kumar detailed new measures introduced to conduct the upcoming election.

"As development progressed, booth-level staff highlighted an issue: voters often need their mobile phones while standing in line, and nowadays, no one wants to leave their phones behind. To address this, a system was introduced in previous by-elections where voters deposit their mobile phones just outside the polling room and collect them immediately after voting," he said.

"The Election Commission has leveraged technology over the years, developing nearly 40 separate applications for voters and stakeholders. To simplify this, all these applications have been integrated into a single platform called the One Stop Digital Platform, ECINET. Its progressive implementation is ongoing and will be applied in Bihar, with any remaining tasks completed thereafter," he added.

Key Points from the Press Conference:

-700 booth-level officers have been trained.

-Voter information slips will be provided before the election date to inform voters of their assigned booth.

-No polling station will have more than 1,200 voters for voter convenience.

-100% webcasting will be implemented at all polling booths.

-Colored photographs will be used on voter ID cards.

-A digital index card, containing information such as the number of voters and votes cast, will be made available within a few days after the election concludes.

-243 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and more than 93,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have prepared the electoral roll.

-If a voter’s name is missing from the electoral roll or contains an error, an appeal can be made to the District Magistrate.

-Candidates should appoint a polling agent at each booth.

-More than 7,000 booth-level agents have been appointed by various political parties.

-It is mandatory to conduct a revision of the electoral roll before all elections.

-If a political party believes a voter’s name has been omitted, they can lodge a formal complaint, which will be addressed before the elections.

-The Election Commission requests an Aadhaar card in the enumeration form.

-The Election Commission clarifies that an Aadhaar card is not proof of residence.

These new measures will be applicable across the country, said CEC Kumar.

About the differing views of political parties on the election process, Kumar said, "We've heard the views of the political parties. Each has its pros and cons, and the Election Commission will soon take a decision on this matter."

The upcoming Bihar Assembly election is set to be a fierce showdown between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and the opposition Mahagathbandhan, headed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). In the 243-seat Assembly, the NDA holds 131 seats (BJP 80, JD(U) 45, HAM(S) 4, and 2 Independents), while the Mahagathbandhan has 111 seats (RJD 77, Congress 19, CPI(ML) 11, CPI(M) 2, CPI 2). As the election nears, political campaigns are heating up, with both sides intensifying efforts and exchanging accusations across the state.