Bihar Election: First phase polling underway in 121 seats; 53.77% turnout recorded till 3 pm

Mangalore Today News Network

Patna, Nov 6, 2025: The high-profile battle for Bihar has begun, with half the state’s 243 seats voting today in the first of the two-phase election. Led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the ruling NDA is hoping for yet another term in the state.

Here are the top 10 points in this story:

1. A voter turnout of 53.77% has been recorded till 3 pm in the 121 seats in Bihar where elections are underway. Top leaders, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Samrat Choudhary, the RJD’s Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, and LJP’s Chirag Paswan have already voted. "Vote and inspire others to vote," Kumar said in a social media post.

2. Sharing a family photo with their inked fingers, Lalu Yadav has posted, "The roti should keep turning on the tawa, otherwise it will burn. 20 years is too long! Now, for the youth government and the new Bihar, a Tejashwi government is extremely necessary."

3. Choudhary has asserted that the NDA will come to power with a thumping majority, while his key ally, Chirag Paswan, said that he wants to see record voting in the first phase and urged everyone to exercise their Right to Vote. Live Updates

4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to the voters in Bihar to vote in the "festival of democracy" with full enthusiasm. Confident of NDA’s victory, he has asserted that the coalition will get an unprecedented majority in the elections.

5. The Opposition Grand Alliance, banking on anti-incumbency and the unprecedented jobs-for-every-home promise of its Chief Ministerial candidate, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, is hoping to outperform the NDA. The RJD, which emerged as the single largest party in 2020, ran an aggressive campaign spearheaded by Yadav, who is hoping to scoop up the youth vote.

6. The BJP ran its usual high-profile campaign, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and powered by his cabinet ministers and chief ministers from the BJP-ruled states. There was a buzz that 74-year-old Nitish Kumar—a six-time Chief Minister—will be dropped this time, with his JD(U) now playing second fiddle to the BJP. It took Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda to clarify the matter at the eleventh hour.

7. The Congress, which came a poor second to alliance partner the Rashtriya Janata Dal in 2020, was seen as running a lackluster campaign. While it started strongly, enough with a joint footmarch of Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav, the Congress leader went missing in action for over two months.

8. Election strategist Prashant Kishor, who entered the political arena with his Jan Suraaj Party, is considered the X factor in this contest. His entry has raised multiple questions - including the one on the potential split of the non-BJP vote. Kishor has said his party will either get fewer than 10 or more than 150 seats. He also said his party would not enter into any alliance before or after the election. Jan Suraaj, which is contesting every seat in the state, has flagged corruption and decline in essential services. 

9. The election revolves around bread-and-butter issues -- unemployment, migration, corruption, education and healthcare.  The focus has been sharpened by Tejashwi Yadav’s promise of one government job for every household in the state, which translates to a staggering 1.3 crore jobs. The NDA, which has ruled the state for the better part of 20 years, contends that the state does not have pockets deep enough to support such a scheme. The ruling alliance has promised 1 crore jobs and hopes to empower women and create 1 crore women lakhpatis.

10. The constituencies that go to polls today mostly lie across Central Bihar. In 2020, the Grand Alliance had secured a significant foothold in this region -- winning 63 of the 121 seats. The BJP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU had managed 55 seats together.