ECI To Announce Bihar Assembly Election 2025 Schedule At 4 PM

The Election Commission of India will announce the schedule for the Bihar Legislative Assembly election 2025 on Monday at 4:00 p.m. Officials will conduct a press conference for the announcement at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had said the elections will be concluded before Nov. 22, when the current Assembly's term ends. A total of 17 new initiatives were announced by the poll body on Sunday after it conducted a review of the state's poll preparedness.

Polling booths in Bihar will only allow 1,200 voters for each of them, the CEC said in a press conference. Every voting booth in Bihar will have "100% webcasting" during the polls, ensuring that it is all recorded and monitored for issues in real time, he said.

Many political parties have urged the poll body to hold the election immediately after the 'Chhath Puja' festival at the end of October, to ensure greater voter participation as a large number of people employed in other states return home for festivities.

The Bihar Assembly elections are being held amid the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The opposition has alleged mass deletion of voters during the months-long exercise, a charge denied by the ECI.

Former political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishore-led Jan Suraaj Party will make its debut in the assembly polls as the third pole in Bihar politics.

In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the ruling National Democratic Alliance currently holds 131 seats with the Bharatiya Janata Party having 80 and Janata Dal (United) at 45.

The opposition alliance 'Mahagathbandhan' holds 111 seats, comprising 77 Rashtriya Janata Dal members, 19 Congress members, and the rest coming from Left parties.

The 2020 assembly polls in Bihar were held in three phases amid the Covid-19 pandemic.