The "Print" newspaper, "The Indian Express", and NDTV reported on October 6 that the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections are approaching in 2025, and the state may witness the least number of voting phases and the shortest election period in over two decades. In terms of specific arrangements, the election is planned to be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with counting scheduled for November 14. This election will re-elect the 243 constituencies in Bihar. The first phase of voting will cover 121 constituencies in the central part of the state, while the second phase will involve 122 constituencies in the northern, eastern, and southern parts. Notably, this election may be the one with the fewest voting phases and the shortest duration in Bihar in over two decades, for two reasons: first, political parties have requested to hold the election earlier from October 25 to 28 to attract returning migrant workers after the "Chhath Puja" festival; second, to avoid repeating the problems seen in the 2024 general elections, such as high temperatures combined with a long election period leading to a decline in voter turnout. Regarding the participating parties, three major forces will compete: first, the ruling alliance led by the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, "National Democratic Alliance" (NDA) and its allies, mainly consisting of BJP, Janata Dal (United) (JD), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJP), and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM). Second, the "Grand Alliance" (Mahagathbandhan) led by the opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which includes the Congress, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI), CPI (Marxist) (CPI), and CPI (CPI). Third, the Jan Suraaj Party led by political strategist Prashant Kishor. In terms of the number of voters, after the "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR) of the voter list, the state now has 74.3 million (7.43 crore) voters, a decrease of 3.8 million (38 lakh) compared to before the revision, among whom 1.4 million are first-time voters. It is worth noting that there are significant controversies surrounding the SIR process. Opposition parties such as the Congress have questioned the short data collection time and the different stance of the Election Commission in revising the voter numbers, and have called SIR "electoral fraud".

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845341109722112/

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