E-Paper
How to read Bihar’s highest ever turnout
The 2025 Bihar elections saw a record turnout, but this is largely due to a reduction in registered voters, not increased civic engagement.
The 2025 Bihar elections have seen the highest turnout in the history of the state. However, the turnout number is merely statistical. The reason is the reduction in total number of registered electors because of the Special Intensive Revision exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Here is why.
According to data released by ECI, the number of registered electors in the 121 and 122 assembly constituencies (ACs) which went to polls in the first and second phase of elections was 37.5 million and 37 million. The provisional voter turnout for the first phase of elections was 65.08% and the voter turnout for the second phase of elections, according to ECI data was 69%.
The provisional turnout for the state as a whole is 66.91% in the 2025 assembly elections. This number is the highest for the state in any assembly or Lok Sabha election since 1962 and 1977, the earliest periods for which HT has Bihar’s turnout data with and without the ACs that subsequently went into what became the state of Jharkhand in 2000. To be sure, ECI said in a press note that the turnout in 2025 election was also higher than in the elections before 1962, but did not clarify if that turnout includes the Jharkhand ACs.
What really explains this high turnout number? It is nothing but a statistical manifestation of a large reduction in total number of electors in the state because of SIR which led to a reduction of 3.1 million electors compared to 2024. While the number of registered electors went down between the 2024 Lok Sabha and the 2025 assembly elections, the number which actually turned out to vote saw an increase of 6.6 million in the state overall according to ECI’s presse note on turnout data after the second phase of the polling.
In other words, the SIR exercise has most likely deleted names from the electoral rolls who did not turn out to vote because they were registered at more than one place, have migrated, or simply died. These three were the primary reasons the ECI offered for a reduction in total electors when it published the final list after SIR. To be sure, this is not to say that the SIR could not have led to some wrongful exclusions too. However, it is clear that the former significantly outweighs the latter.
As was explained in these pages on November 7 and August 2, the SIR was always unlikely to lead to a reduction in absolute votes cast in the 2025 Bihar elections. However, now that the elections are over and attention shifts towards the results, it is important to reiterate that the higher turnout in these Bihar elections is treated as what it really is --- a statistical anomaly or a one-time reduction in total number of registered voters – rather than a cause of whichever outcome emerges on November 14.
