Battle lines drawn in Bihar as dates announced; Oppn continues to slam EC

Battle lines were drawn in Bihar on Monday (October 6) as the Election Commission (EC) announced the schedule for the assembly polls, with JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha exuding confidence about the NDA returning to power in the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav asserted that the people will vote for change this time.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the NDA government has pulled Bihar out of “jungle raj” and given it a new direction of development and good governance. The people of the state will once again choose the politics of development in the state assembly polls, he said.

BJP president JP Nadda said these polls are for continuing the state’s development journey, ridding it of infiltrators and stopping the return of “jungle raj”.

Also read: Bihar to vote on November 6, 11; results on 14

Congress continues attack on EC

The Congress, a constituent of the opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) in Bihar, sharpened its attack on the EC, alleging that the poll body had failed to answer the questions raised by it. So did its Left allies.

Questioning the timing of the announcement of the poll schedule, the opposition party alleged that it shows an “alliance” between the EC and the ruling BJP.

“We don’t get answers to our questions. The Election Commission is being questioned on a daily basis. They created a political environment that there are illegal migrants, where are the illegal migrants? They did not answer,” Congress’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, “The questions that the INDIA bloc and Rahul Gandhi asked, no answers have been given,” he told PTI Videos.

Khera alleged that the poll announcement was made on Monday after giving the ruling alliance time to put money in people’s hands.

“If this is not gathbandhan (alliance) between the BJP and the EC, then what is it?” he asked, adding, “The issue is not just vote chori (theft) but what you do after it. What you did for the last 20 years, those are the issues. You stole pensions, rations, jobs.”

Also read: Bihar election 2025: SWOT analysis of INDIA bloc

CPM flags lack of remedial measures

The CPI(M) said the EC had announced the Bihar polls without finding remedial measures for complaints regarding “omissions” in the electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

The Left party also claimed that millions of voters were removed from the state’s electoral rolls following the SIR.

“The EC is holding the Bihar Assembly election without properly finding remedial measures for the complaints of omission and commission committed by it with regard to rightful voters,” CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby told PTI Videos.

“Millions of voters, genuine voters, are removed from the electoral lot on different pretexts,” he said.

‘EC behaving in partial manner’

The CPI(M) leader pointed out that the Supreme Court has given clear-cut directions that bona-fide voters removed from the voter list should be given a proper opportunity and time to apply for re-inclusion. “The EC is behaving in a manner which is quite unsatisfactory and objectionable,” he added.

Baby said Bihar is going to witness “the first election in the history of our country where the umpire, that is the Election Commission, is found being part of one side, one team in the contest, that is the ruling party”.

“The EC has not succeeded in exonerating itself from the complaints that it is behaving in a partial manner, helping the ruling party at the Centre,” he said.

Also read: Nitish Kumar inaugurates first section of Patna Metro ahead of poll announcement

Contempt of SC: CPI(ML)

CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya termed the EC’s decision to announce the dates for the Bihar Assembly polls as “contempt of the Supreme Court”.

“The Supreme Court earlier scheduled October 7 for the final hearing of petitions challenging the EC’s decision to carry out an SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. Despite that, the EC announced the dates for Bihar polls. This is undemocratic and contempt of the Supreme Court,” Bhattacharya said.

Bhattacharya said the CPI(ML) had launched a movement in Bihar against the alleged manipulation of the electoral rolls through the SIR process. “There was a conspiracy to remove five out of every ten names. We fought this battle from the streets to Parliament to the Supreme Court. Our struggle will continue,” he said.

“Now that the elections are near, they (ruling parties) are hatching a plan to return to power by bribing the public, they want to steal the election. But the people of Bihar will foil this attempt of the NDA and will throw Modi-Nitish's double-engine government out of power”, he said.

Also read: Congress claims EC’s Bihar SIR removed 23 lakh women from voters’ list

Bihar poll schedule

The people of Bihar will decide the fate of the ruling NDA and the opposition bloc, comprising the RJD and Congress among others, exercising their franchise in the state assembly polls scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11.

Announcing the schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said elections will be held in 121 seats of the 243-member Assembly on November 6, while the remaining 122 constituencies will go to polls on November 11.

The counting of votes will be on November 14, the poll body chief said.

NDA exudes confidence

Welcoming the announcement of poll schedules, JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha said in a post on X, “Looking at the public sentiment, I am fully confident that after this election, the NDA government will be formed again with a thumping majority under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar”.

“This election will also serve as proof that the rapid pace of Bihar’s development can no longer be stopped by spreading lies, creating confusion or misleading people,” Jha added.

BJP president JP Nadda said the NDA government in Bihar has become synonymous with people’s welfare and good governance. “I have full confidence that the sacred land of Bihar, which is the mother of democracy, will give the BJP and NDA its blessings and massive votes,” he said.

Also read: NDA’s Rs 62,000 Cr poll bonanza blunts Opposition's ‘vote chori’ plank

Vote for change: Tejashwi

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said Bihar will vote for change in the upcoming elections and “every Bihari will be the CM”.

“My dear people of the state. November 14, 2025. We must remember this date. This date will forever shine in golden letters as the beginning of Bihar's bright future, transformation, development, and rise. The bugle of change has been sounded. Now, every Bihari must come together with full dedication, harnessing all their energy, to form a Mahagathbandhan government,” Yadav wrote on X.

The RJD leader, who served as deputy chief minister in the previous Mahagathbandhan government, asserted that the state’s youths will vote to end unemployment.

Jan Suraaj Party to contest polls

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor announced that he would contest the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar and the list of his party’s candidates will be declared on October 9.

“The party will declare its list of candidates for the coming assembly polls on October 9 and it will be full of surprises. My name will also be there in the list,” Kishor told reporters.

The former poll strategist, however, did not disclose the name of the constituency from where he will contest. “You will come to know on October 9,” he said.

Also read: PM Modi unveils Rs 62,000 cr youth-centric projects, with focus on Bihar

Kishor’s math

Asked about the winning possibility of Jan Suraaj Party, Kishor claimed that his party would get votes of 28 per cent voters who neither voted for the NDA nor INDIA bloc.

“In the last polls, the two alliances bagged votes of 72 per cent of voters only. I must clarify that we will get votes of the remaining 28 per cent of the voters. Besides, people say that Jan Suraaj Party will get 10 per cent votes each of both alliances. That means we are expected to get 48 per cent votes of the total electorate in the coming polls,” he said.

Kishor claimed that Nitish Kumar will no longer the chief minister after the polls.

“I am saying it with full confidence that this will be the last election of Nitish Kumar. He will not celebrate the next 'Makar Sankranti' (in January 2026) at 1 Anne Marg, the official residence of the Bihar chief minister in the state capital,” he said.

CEO confident

Hours after dates for the Bihar assembly polls were announced, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinod Singh Gunjiyal on Monday expressed confidence in the overall preparedness in conducting the elections.

Talking to reporters, Gunjiyal said, “Our preparation for the elections is almost complete.” He said there are 90,712 polling centres, of which 13,911 are in urban areas and 76,800 in rural regions. Each centre will cater to an average of 818 voters. To ensure convenience, he highlighted, additional voting centres have been created where the number of voters earlier exceeded 1,200.

The CEO announced 100 per cent webcasting coverage across all polling booths.

(With agency inputs)