Patna: Campaigning for the second and final phase of the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025, covering 122 constituencies across 20 districts, came to a close on Sunday evening. The high-octane rallies, roadshows, and political meetings have now fallen silent, with voting set to begin at 7am on Tuesday.
The phase is crucial for both the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition Grand Alliance, as the credibility of several of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s ministers and the political clout of opposition stalwarts will be put to the test.
Over 37 million voters to cast their ballots
A total of 37,013,556 voters are eligible to vote in this phase, including 19.5 million men, 17.4 million women, and one third-gender voter. Among them, 528,954 are first-time voters. Voting will take place across 45,399 polling stations, with 40,073 in rural and 5,326 in urban areas.
The smallest constituency by area is Bhagalpur (23.89 sq km), while Chainpur (1814.15 sq km) is the largest. Makhdumpur has the fewest registered voters (247,574), and Hisua the most (367,667).
Women will manage 595 polling booths, while 91 booths will be operated by persons with disabilities. Authorities have also set up 316 model polling stations and identified 63,373 service voters. Notably, 6,255 voters aged over 100 are expected to cast their ballots.
Candidates and key constituencies
A total of 1,302 candidates are in the fray—1,165 men, 136 women, and one third-gender candidate. The largest number of candidates (22 each) are contesting in Chainpur, Sasaram, and Gaya Town, while Lauriya, Chanpatia, Raxaul, Sugauli, Triveniganj, and Banmankhi each have just five candidates.
Polling will be held across districts including West and East Champaran, Shivhar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Supaul, Araria, Kishanganj, Purnia, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Banka, Kaimur, Rohtas, Arwal, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada, and Jamui.
Heavyweights in the fray
From the NDA, prominent figures such as former Deputy Chief Ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi are contesting, along with several ministers including Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Supaul), Leshi Singh (Dhamdaha), Neeraj Kumar Bablu (Chhatapur), Prem Kumar (Gaya Town), Sumit Kumar Singh (Chakai), Jayant Raj (Amarpur), and Nitish Mishra (Jhanjharpur).
The Grand Alliance’s key contenders include senior RJD leader and former Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary (Sikandra), Congress state president Rajesh Ram (Kutumba), Congress Legislature Party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan (Kadwa), and CPI(ML) leader Mehboob Alam.
Tight security and curtailed polling hours
The Election Commission has marked several booths as sensitive. In Imamganj, polling will close at 3pm at seven booths and 4pm at 354 others. In Bodh Gaya, 200 booths will see polling until 4pm and 106 until 5pm. Voting will conclude at 4pm across all booths in Chainpur, Rajauli, Govindpur, Sikandra, Jamui, Jhajha, and Chakai.
Party-wise breakdown
In this phase, the NDA is contesting with BJP (53 seats), JD(U) (44), LJP (Ramvilas) (15), Rashtriya Lok Morcha (4), and HAM (Secular) (6). The Grand Alliance has fielded candidates from RJD (71), Congress (37), VIP (7), CPI (4), CPI(ML) (6), and CPI(M) (1). The Jan Suraaj Party has fielded 120 candidates.
