The dates for the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections are expected to be announced after Dussehra (October 2 this year). Voting is likely to happen in two phases during the first and second weeks of November, according to sources. In comparison, the 2020 elections were held in three phases on October 28, November 3, and November 7, with results declared on November 10.
Officials from the Election Commission, including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the two Election Commissioners, are expected to visit Bihar soon to check preparations. The election dates will consider major festivals like Chhath and Diwali, which fall between October 18 and October 28 this year. The current Assembly’s term ends on November 22, so a new Assembly must be elected and sworn in before that.
Major Political Contestants
The 2025 Bihar election will see a contest between the ruling alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal United (JDU) and the Mahagathbandhan led by Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Campaigning and voting will take place amid controversy over the Election Commission’s ‘special intensive revision’ (SIR) of voter lists in the state.
Opposition parties have criticized the BJP-led central government, claiming that the SIR aims to remove votes from marginalized groups. The Election Commission says the revision is meant to ensure only eligible Indian citizens can vote and has found Nepali and Bangladeshi nationals on Bihar’s voter lists. After the SIR, registered voters in Bihar dropped from 7.9 crore to below 7.24 crore. Of the 65 lakh removed, 22 lakh had passed away, 36 lakh moved permanently or could not be located, and seven lakh were found double-registered. The Supreme Court heard challenges but allowed the SIR to continue, saying the Election Commission has the constitutional right to revise voter lists.
Background and Past Results
In the 2020 elections, the BJP-led alliance narrowly won 125 seats (BJP 74, JDU 43, others 8) against the Mahagathbandhan’s 110 seats (RJD 75, Congress 19, others 16). JDU leader and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar began his seventh term with the BJP but later switched sides to join the Mahagathbandhan before returning to the BJP alliance two years later.
The Bihar election will start a series of important state elections over the next two years, including Assam, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu in 2026, and Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in 2027, marking the buildup to the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
