As counting began on Friday for all 243 assembly seats in Bihar, the 2025 election set an unprecedented benchmark in the state’s electoral history with zero violence and zero repolling, a sharp contrast
to the blood-soaked and disruption-heavy polls that marked Bihar’s past for decades.
According to the government data, between the 1980s and mid-2000s, Bihar was synonymous with ‘Jungle Raj’, and elections were plagued by booth capturing, killings, and widespread malpractice.
In 1985, the state recorded 63 deaths and repolling in 156 booths, while Congress’s Chandrashekhar Singh was the Chief Minister of the state. Following the election, Congress’s Bindeshwari Dubey took over the office.
The 1990 assembly polls were even bloodier, with 87 deaths reported. At that time, the governance of the state was transferred from Congress’s Jagannath Mishra to RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav.
By 1995, the situation had deteriorated so drastically that then-Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan had postponed the Bihar elections four times, citing unprecedented violence and electoral malpractice. Lalu Prasad Yadav had returned to power for two years, later taken over by his wife, Rabri Devi, who served as the Chief Minister until 1999.
In 2005, repolling was still required in 660 booths due to violence and disruptions. Post elections, Janata Dal (United)’s Nitish Kumar came to power in the state.
The 2025 election, held in two phases on November 6 and 11, recorded zero repolling and zero violence.
BIHAR ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2025 AND COUNTING
Bihar registered a historic 67.13 per cent voter turnout from 7.45 crore eligible voters, the highest ever for an assembly election in the state, with not a single instance of major violence or booth disturbance reported.
For the first time in four decades, the Election Commission did not order a single repoll.
Counting began at 8 am at 46 centres across 38 districts, with postal ballots taken up first and EVM counting starting at 8.30 am.
According to the Election Commission, 4,372 counting tables, each manned by a supervisor, a counting assistant and a micro-observer, have been deployed, along with more than 18,000 counting agents appointed by candidates.
The election is being viewed widely as a referendum on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president and the state’s longest-serving Chief Minister.
Ahead of counting, the INDIA bloc continued to raise apprehensions. RJD leader and opposition Chief Minister face Tejashwi Yadav said party workers and common people were ready to resist “any unconstitutional activity during counting”, while RJD’s Sunil Kumar Singh warned of a “Nepal-like situation” on the streets if the process was halted “like in 2020”.
The BJP dismissed these remarks as signs of frustration. State party chief Dilip Jaiswal said the leadership was in constant touch with workers at counting centres and expressed hope that just as polling was peaceful, counting would also “remain eventless”.
He asserted that voters had “sealed their mandate in EVMs” to give the NDA another term.
As numbers begin to emerge from counting centres, the fact that the 2025 Bihar elections have rewritten the state’s electoral history is certain.
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