Bihar has witnessed a historic moment in its democratic journey, recording the highest voter turnout since the state’s first elections in 1951. The recently concluded Bihar Legislative Assembly elections registered an overall turnout of 66.91 percent, reflecting strong public participation across both phases of polling.
According to data released by the Election Commission of India, women once again outshone men in voter participation. Female turnout stood at an impressive 71.6 percent, while male turnout was 62.8 percent. This marks the highest female voter turnout ever recorded in the state.
In Phase I, polling percentage stood at 65.08 percent with 69.04 percent female participation and 61.56 percent male participation. In Phase II, the turnout rose to 68.76 percent, with women voters recording 74.03 percent turnout compared to 64.1 percent among men. The total electorate across Bihar was over 7.45 crore, comprising 3.51 crore female and 3.93 crore male electors.
The elections were conducted smoothly across 38 districts and 243 Assembly constituencies, covering 90,740 polling stations. More than 8.5 lakh polling staff were deployed to ensure efficient conduct of voting. In addition, around 1.4 lakh polling agents, appointed by 2,616 contesting candidates, monitored the polling process alongside 243 General Observers, 38 Police Observers, and 67 Expenditure Observers. Notably, there were no reports of re-polls in any constituency.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi, oversaw the elections from the ECI Control Centre in Delhi through a webcasting facility connected to all polling stations. The Election Commission highlighted the extensive use of technology to ensure transparency and real-time monitoring of the polling process.
This year’s Bihar elections also drew global attention. For the first time, 16 delegates from six countries—South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Belgium, and Colombia—visited polling stations under the International Election Visitors’ Programme. The delegates praised the conduct of the polls, describing them as one of the most well-organised, transparent, and participative electoral exercises they had observed.
The Election Commission stated that the provisional data does not include service voters, transgender voter turnout, or postal ballots. Final figures will be published later through the ECI’s official index card. The scrutiny of poll data is scheduled for November 12.