Bihar records highest-ever voter turnout of 64.66% in first phase of polls

The Election Commission said Bihar's voter turnout in phase one of the Assembly polls was the highest ever, with officials crediting the special electoral roll revision for the record numbers

At 64.66 per cent, Bihar recorded the highest ever voter turnout in its electoral history on Thursday, the Election Commission (EC) said in a press statement issued in the evening after the conclusion of the Phase-I of polling on 121 of the total 243 seats.

 

The EC said that the voter turnout figure of 64.66 per cent was updated as of 8.15 pm with 1,570 presiding officers yet to update the figures on ECINet, suggesting that the turnout percentage could go further up.

 

EC officials said the historic voter turnout vindicated the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls that it carried out in the state in recent months, which “purified” the electoral rolls. The SIR identified almost 6.5 million voters who were either deceased, or had shifted their residence outside of the state, that is they were no longer ordinary residents of Bihar, or were not citizens of India.

 

According to EC data, the voter turnout on these 121 seats was 64.66 per cent, a sharp 7.37 per cent increase over the 2020 Assembly polls turnout of 57.29 per cent. It pointed out the voter turnout bettered the previous high of 62.57 per cent recorded in the Assembly polls in 2000.

 

The EC said Thursday’s turnout also bettered the highest ever Lok Sabha voter turnout recorded in the state in the 1998 general elections. The voter turnout in what was then undivided Bihar was 64.6 per cent.

 

EC sources said they expected the trend to continue in the final phase of polling on November 11, where the remaining 122 seats will go for polling.

 

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar thanked the electors of Bihar for the “historic turnout” since 1951 in the Phase I of the Assembly polls in the state, and for their “complete faith” in the EC, and for turning up to vote in such large numbers with “fervour and enthusiasm”. Kumar said the entire election machinery worked with full transparency and dedication.

 

The CEC, along with his colleagues Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, kept a close watch on the polling through live-webcasting, which has been ensured in 100 per cent of the polling stations for the first time in Bihar, the EC said.

 

On Thursday, polling was conducted in 121 Assembly seats across 18 districts with 37.5 million electors. It involved over 400,000 polling-related staff, who conducted mock polls before 7 am in the presence of 67,902 polling agents appointed by 1,314 contesting candidates. Polling began peacefully at all 45,341 polling stations simultaneously. Of these polling stations, 36,733 were in rural areas, the EC said.

 

Over 90,000 Jeevika Didis/female volunteers along with paramilitary personnel were deployed across all polling stations for “the identification of purdahnasheen (veiled) women”, the EC said. Other new initiatives included coloured photos of candidates on EVM ballot papers, mobile deposit facility at polling stations, newly designed Voter Information Slips (VIS) for easy readability, and up to 1,200 voters per polling station, reducing crowding, the EC said.

 

EC officials said that barring a few incidents of "minor scuffles" in Lakhisarai and Saran, polling passed off peacefully. A total of 143 complaints were received and were immediately resolved, EC officials said. However, electors boycotted polling in certain booths in Buxar, Fatuha, and Suryagarha.

 

The Assembly polls in Bihar are taking place in the context of the SIR, which came under attack from opposition parties for alleged "rigging" and "manipulation" of voter lists. Earlier this week, the EC began the SIR in 12 states and Union Territories, four of which will go to polls by April-May, 2026.

 

Several key leaders, including Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD’s) Tejashwi Yadav, Deputy Chief Ministers (CMs) Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, besides a slew of ministers, were among the candidates in fray in this phase. Stray incidents of violence, including an alleged attack on Sinha's vehicle, were reported from some areas during the polling.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed rallies in a couple of constituencies going to polls in the second and final phase, felt that the noticeably high number of women turning up to vote was a good sign for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

 

“Mothers, daughters, and sisters have been the worst sufferers of 'jungle raj'. Today, they seem to have put up a fortress around polling booths to prevent the return of 'jungle raj',” Modi said.

 

The NDA is hopeful that the women support base will keep its faith with the alliance, and welfare measures such as 125 units of free power, ₹10,000 cash transfers to over 10 million women, and an increase in social security pensions would help it neutralise anti-incumbency.

 

RJD president Lalu Prasad came out with an evocative social media post, drawing the analogy of a "roti". "If a roti is not flipped on a tawa (pan), it gets burnt. Twenty years is a long time. A Tejashwi government is essential to build a new Bihar," Prasad wrote on X.

 

In the last few Assembly polls, women turnout has been better than that of men. The EC was yet to release the data of women turnout in Phase-I at the time of filing of this report.