Bihar Elections 2025: How Did SIR Boost First Phase Voter Turnout? What Does It Mean?

Patna: The first phase of Bihar Elections 2025 (121 seats on November 6) was spectacular, with a record 64.66% voting– the highest in the history of the state. Voting took place in 18 districts (from Patna to Begusarai), and an average increase of 2-5% was recorded compared to 2020. But the issue of deletion of lakhs of names from the voter list due to SIR (Special Intensive Revision) is a heated issue, on which the opposition is alleging. 

First phase of voting: District-wise breakdown

Out of 7.42 crore registered voters, about 4.8 crore cast their votes for a total of 121 seats. The district-wise % is given in the table below (based on provisional data from ECI, which may be slightly updated):

Note: Maximum enthusiasm in Muzaffarpur and Samastipur, while slightly less in Patna and Nalanda. According to ECI, these figures are as of 8:30 PM – there may be slight changes in the final %.

Why did voting increase?

SIR (June-September 2025) in Bihar was a campaign to clean the voter list, but it resulted in deletion of names on a large scale. According to the ECI report:

• Total Registered Voters (2025): 7.42 crore.
• Before SIR (June 2025): Rs 7.89 crore.
• Draft List (August 2025): 65 lakh names deleted (total 7.24 crore left).
• Final List (30 September 2025): Additional 3.66 lakhs were cut, but 21.53 lakhs were added.
• Net deletion: 47.13 lakh (new additions from total deleted 68.66 lakh).
• 2020 vs 2025: 9.25% less voters (6.35% drop even after adding new ones).

SIR deletions in Phase 1 districts (from ECI data, % estimated):

Region-wise: Highest reduction in Seemanchal (6.12%), Bhojpur (5.56%), Magadh (3.73%). ECI claims that 99% of deletions were due to 'routine' reasons (duplicates, dead, shifted) and not targeted. But the opposition is calling it 'vote theft'.

Political Reactions: Round of allegations and counter-allegations

• Rahul Gandhi (Congress): Released a video on November 5 saying, "An attempt is being made to hatch a conspiracy for systematic 'vote theft' in Bihar. Gen Z wake up!" He had raised questions on EC even after Haryana elections. EC replied: "Why did Congress agents not object to duplicates in SIR?" BJP called it 'baseless.'
• Prashant Kishore (Jan Suraj): Considers SIR as 'not an issue'. Says, "EC tried to scare by deleting names, but the people of Bihar responded with record voting. Real issues: migration, education, corruption." Recently he said in Araria, "My name was in two places, so why was it deleted?"
• Congress Leader (Sachin Pilot): "This is serious, many voters will know by polling day. SIR not transparent - Opposition parties united."

Referring to 2020: The difference in votes between NDA-Mahagathbandhan was only 0.03% (12,768 votes). Decision on 40 seats by <15,000 votes. This 'interference' of SIR can make the results tighter.