Over 3.75 Crore Voters To Decide Fate Of 1,314 Candidates In Bihar’s Phase One Polls

On Thursday, Bihar will witness the first leg of its 2025 Assembly polls, as over 3.75 crore voters across 121 constituencies in 18 districts cast their ballots to decide the fate of 1,314 candidates, including 122 women.

Polling will start at 7 AM and continue until 6 PM. In certain sensitive constituencies, including Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Mahishi, Tarapur, Munger, and Jamalpur, voting will end earlier. In parts of Suryagarha, polling will conclude at 5 PM due to security concerns.

A total of 45,324 polling booths have been established, all of which will be fully webcast to facilitate real-time supervision.

To maintain transparency and integrity, the Election Commission has appointed 121 general observers, 18 police observers, and 33 expenditure observers.

A special control room at the Chief Electoral Officer’s Office in Patna enables citizens to lodge complaints through helplines or email.

Security measures have strengthened at every polling location, with the combined deployment of state police and Central Armed Paramilitary Forces.

In a move to encourage participation and inclusivity, authorities have created 926 all-women-managed booths. They have also set up 107 booths run by differently-abled personnel. Additionally, 320 model booths offer improved voter facilities.

Prominent districts going to the polls today include Patna, Vaishali, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Munger, Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, and Muzaffarpur.

Within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), JD(U) is contesting 57 seats, BJP 48, LJP (Ram Vilas) 14, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha 2.

The Mahagathbandhan alliance features RJD on 73 seats, Congress on 24, and CPI(ML) on 14. Other contenders include the Vikas Sheel Insaan Party with 5 candidates, while CPI and CPM have 3 each.

The Indian Inclusive Party (IIP), a new entrant, is contesting 3 seats, whereas the Jan Suraj Party has fielded 119 candidates.

This phase will also decide the fate of several high-profile politicians. They include Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, along with 16 state ministers.

Tejashwi Yadav, the chief ministerial nominee of the Mahagathbandhan, is making his third electoral bid from the Raghopur seat.

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