Electoral Revision Drives Record Bihar Voter Turnout: CEC

The 2025 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls drove the record-breaking voter turnout in the Bihar assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said on Sunday. Speaking to reporters at Patna airport during a two-day tour of the state, Kumar asserted that the exercise paved the way for historic participation.

The November 2025 assembly elections registered a voter turnout of 67.25%. This was the highest participation rate for the state since Independence, the Election Commission stated.

Impact of Electoral Revision

The three-month exercise purged approximately 70 lakh names from the state's electoral rolls.

"Bihar is the land where Vaishali, the cradle of democracy, is situated. We take pride in the fact that the SIR was conducted here successfully for the first time," Kumar said.

"As you all know, men and women came out in large numbers to vote and the turnout broke all records in the state. It may be noted that the voter turnout in Bihar assembly polls was higher than what has been seen, over the years, in major democracies like the US, the UK, France, Spain and Japan," Kumar added.

Landslide Election Results Context

The historic turnout preceded a sweeping victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in November 2025. The coalition secured 202 of the 243 assembly seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 89 seats and the Janata Dal (United) took 85. Remaining alliance seats went to the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) with 19, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) with five and Rashtriya Lok Morcha with four.

The opposition Mahagathbandhan won 35 seats. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) secured 25, while the Congress took six. The CPI(ML-L) won two seats. The CPI(M) and Indian Inclusive Party won one each. The final six assembly seats went to AIMIM, which won five and the BSP, which claimed one.