Category: News
Voting began at 7 AM today, 6 November 2026, for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections, covering 121 of the state’s 243 seats across 18 districts. A total of 3.75 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,314 candidates at 45,341 polling stations.
Polling will be held from 7 AM to 6 PM, except in some sensitive areas — Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Mahishi, Tarapur, Munger, Jamalpur and 56 booths in Suryagarha — where voting ends at 5 PM for security reasons.
The numbers
- Seats in Phase 1: 121 of 243, across 18 districts
- Voters: 3,75,13,302 electors, including 1,98,35,325 men, 1,76,77,219 women and 758 third-gender voters
- Candidates: 1,314, including 1,192 men and 122 women
- Polling stations: 45,341, including 36,733 in rural areas and 8,608 in urban areas
- New electors: 10.72 lakh; voters aged 18–19: 7.78 lakh
The 18 districts voting today are Khagaria, Munger, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura, Nalanda, Patna, Bhojpur, Madhepura, Saharsa, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai and Buxar.
Who is contesting
In Phase 1, the NDA is contesting with JD(U) on 57 seats, BJP on 48, LJP (Ram Vilas) on 14 and Rashtriya Lok Morcha on 2. The Mahagathbandhan has RJD on 73 seats, Congress on 24 and CPI(ML) on 14.
The fate of 16 ministers of the Nitish Kumar government is on the line in this phase, including Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary, contesting from Tarapur, and Vijay Kumar Sinha, contesting from Lakhisarai. RJD leader and Mahagathbandhan chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav is seeking a hat-trick win from Raghopur in Vaishali district.
What happens next
Campaigning for Phase 1 ended on the evening of 3 November. The second phase of polling, covering the remaining 122 seats across 20 districts, will be held on 11 November 2026. Votes from both phases will be counted on 14 November 2026.
This election follows the recently concluded Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
No turnout figure is available yet — polling is still underway today, so any final turnout number will come only after voting ends.
Source: UNI via HT Syndication, 6 November 2026; capitalmarket.com, 5 November 2026; trendsnewsstories.com, 5 November 2026.
