Bihar Assembly Elections Announced: Two-Phase Voting on November 6 and 11, Results on November 14

New Delhi, October 6: The Election Commission of India has officially announced the schedule for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. In a press conference held on Sunday, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar stated that voting will be held in two phases — on November 6 and November 11. The counting of votes will take place on November 14, and the entire election process will conclude by November 16.

This will be the first time Bihar holds assembly elections in just two phases. In the 2020 elections, voting was conducted in three phases, while the 2015 elections were held in five phases.

Giving a breakdown of the two phases, the Election Commission said that:

• Phase 1 (November 6): Voting will be held for 121 assembly constituencies.
• Phase 2 (November 11): The remaining 122 constituencies will go to the polls.

Bihar has a total of 243 assembly seats, of which:

• 203 are general category seats
• 38 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC)
• 2 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST)

Voter Demographics:

The Chief Election Commissioner revealed that approximately:

• 3.92 crore male voters
• 3.40 crore female voters
• 14 lakh first-time voters will be participating in this election.
  Additionally, around 14,000 voters are aged 100 years or above.

To ensure voter convenience, the Commission has decided that:

• No polling station will have more than 1,200 registered voters.
• People with disabilities can vote from home by submitting Form 20.
• A total of 90,412 polling stations will be set up across the state.
• Webcasting will be arranged at every booth for transparency.
• Special mobile storage counters will be placed outside polling rooms so that voters can safely deposit their mobile phones before casting their vote.

Additional Measures:

The Chief Election Commissioner also addressed concerns regarding missing names from the final electoral roll. He clarified that voters can still register their names up to 10 days before the last date of candidate nominations in their constituency.

Furthermore, the Election Commission has pledged to crack down on fake news and misinformation during the election period. Gyanesh Kumar warned that strict action will be taken against any attempt to incite violence or disrupt the electoral process.

This election is expected to set new benchmarks in terms of both scale and security, with efforts being made to ensure accessibility, transparency, and voter participation across the state.