Bihar Voters Create History in Phase 1 with Turnout of 64.66%

Nov 7, 2025 - Voters in Bihar have set a new record with a 64.66% turnout recorded in the first phase of elections for 121 out of 243 Assembly seats on Thursday, November 6, 2025. This was as per the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) at 8:30 pm after voting ended. It is the highest ever in the State since Independence. The figure is higher by 9.3% in these constituencies when compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 8.8% higher than the 2020 Assemble polls.

Previously, the highest voter turnout was 62.57% in the year 2000. However, the same 121 seats in 2020 saw only 46.7% polling, which means that the current turnout is 17.96% higher than before.

Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Singh Gunjiyaal said that women’s participation has once again surpassed that of men in this election. Exact figures will be released soon. In the 2015 elections, 60.48% of women voted, about 6% higher than men, and in 2020, women’s turnout (56.69%) also remained higher than that of men.

This is also the first election in any State after the implementation of the State Information Register (SIR). During this process, 65 lakh names were removed from Bihar’s voter list. ECI Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar described this election with the “purest electoral rolls”.

The second phase of polling for the remaining 122 seats will be held on November 11, while vote counting will take place on November 14 with results being declared the same day.