Bihar Assembly Election Dates Announced

On Monday, the Election Commission announced the dates for the Bihar Assembly elections. Voting will take place on November 6 and 11, and the results will be declared on November 14.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, during a press conference, addressed questions regarding the use of Aadhaar cards for voter enrolment, particularly in the context of the special intensive revision of the state’s voter list, a project criticized by the opposition as “disenfranchising lakhs of people,” but backed by the court. The Supreme Court has clarified that Aadhaar can be used for voter re-verification.

However, addressing earlier concerns from the poll panel that Aadhaar could be forged and was therefore unsuitable, the court stated that election officials could “verify the genuineness of the card”, though it cannot be used to establish citizenship.

The Bihar Assembly election is expected to be a contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal United (JDU) alliance and the Mahagathbandhan, led by the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

This election will also see Prashant Kishor making his electoral debut with his own party, Jan Suraaj, which will contest all 243 seats in the state.