Bihar votes in Phase 1 of 2025 assembly election: 121 seats, 3.75 crore voters, three-cornered contest

Polling began at 7 am on Thursday for 121 of Bihar’s 243 assembly seats in the first phase of the 2025 election, marking the start of a high-stakes triangular contest between the ruling NDA, the opposition Mahagathbandhan, and Prashant Kishor’s debutant Jan Suraaj Party. Voting will continue till 6 pm in most constituencies, and till 5 pm in select areas.

More than 3.75 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,314 candidates across 18 districts, including Patna, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Begusarai, Nalanda and Bhojpur. Of the total polling stations, 36,733 are in rural areas and 926 are managed entirely by women.

Key contenders
• Samrat Choudhary (BJP, Deputy CM) – Tarapur
• Tejashwi Yadav (RJD, Mahagathbandhan CM face) – Raghopur
• Tej Pratap Yadav (JJD) – Mahua
• Maithili Thakur (BJP) – Alinagar
• Anant Singh (JD-U, jailed candidate) – Mokama

Tejashwi Yadav faces BJP’s Satish Kumar in Raghopur — the candidate who defeated his mother, former CM Rabri Devi, in 2010.

Alliances in the fray

• NDA: JD(U), BJP, LJP(RV), HAM, RLM

• Mahagathbandhan: RJD, Congress, CPI, CPI-ML, CPI-M, VIP

• Jan Suraaj Party: Contesting all 243 seats in first electoral outing

Voter profile

• Total electors: 3,75,13,302 (1.98 crore men, 1.76 crore women, 758 third gender)

• First-time voters (18–19 yrs): 7.37 lakh

• Voters aged 100+: 6,736

• Female candidates: 122, male candidates: 1,192

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