Bihar phase 2 polling ends peacefully with 68.79% turnout.

Patna, November 11, 2025: The second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections concluded peacefully on Tuesday, recording a 68.79% voter turnout, with data from around 2,000 polling booths still being compiled, according to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vinod Singh Gunjiyal.

Gunjiyal said the average turnout across the first and second phases stood at 66.9% up 9.6 percentage points from the previous Assembly elections.

In this phase, the Election Commission deployed 122 general observers, 34 expenditure observers, 20 police observers and 2,224 micro observers.

A total of 230 complaints were received and resolved promptly, officials said.

Goods and cash worth over Rs 3.5 crore were seized during the second phase of polling:

Seizures worth Rs 3.52 crore were made during Phase 2, including Rs 1.7 crore in liquor, drugs, and other contraband. The remaining amount comprised cash and freebies. Since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect, total seizures in Bihar have crossed Rs 127 crore, of which Rs 78 crore was liquor and other banned items.

Gunjiyal said polling was conducted without any incident of violence across all constituencies.

 “We introduced several new initiatives this election—including 100%  webcasting from every polling booth.

Each booth had two CCTV cameras, one inside and one outside, with live feeds monitored centrally. This is the first time such large-scale live webcasting has been done in the country,” he said.

A total of 1,302 candidates were in the fray in the second phase, including 1,165 men, 136 women and one third-gender candidate.

In this phase, polling is being held in 122 constituencies—101 general, 19 SC reserved and 2 ST reserved seats.

According to the Election Commission, 3,70,13,556 electors are eligible to vote in this round.

 He added that 1,592 polling stations were located in Naxal-affected areas, yet none had to be relocated this time. “Polling was conducted peacefully even in these regions. We did not need to use helicopters to transport polling or presiding officers,” he said.

The CEO further noted innovations in logistics, including GPS-tracked vehicles and boats for EVM and VVPAT transport, improved ballot paper design with larger fonts and colour photographs, and systematic equipment handovers in specially designed carry bags.

1825 companies of central para-military forces were deployed in the first and second phases:

Additional Director General (ADG) Kundan Krishnan, the state police nodal officer for elections, said security had been intensified since the Model Code of Conduct came into force.

“A total of 1,625 companies of the central armed Police Forces were deployed across Bihar, along with the Bihar Military Police (BMP) and local police,” Krishnan said.

He highlighted that polling was held in several hyper-sensitive Naxal-affected villages where elections had not been conducted for the last two decades—including Taracua, Bichulia, and Barha (under Chakarbandha police station in Imamganj, Gaya), Chormara (Barhat police station, Jamui), and Rehal and Adhora  (in Kaimur).

“In Chormara, 44% voters turned out; around 70% polling was recorded in Chakarbandha. No incidents of violence were reported, “ he said.

From Monday evening to Tuesday evening, 990 individuals were arrested for various offences, 10 vehicles were seized, and since the Model Code came into effect, authorities have confiscated 844 illegal arms, Krishnan added.

In total, 2,616 candidates contested across both phases, with 7.45 crore electors eligible to vote.

Also Read: Polling in the 2nd phase turned out historic in the Bihar election.

EOM.