The Legislative Assembly election was held over five phases in
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
through October–November 2015 before the end of the tenure of the prior
Legislative Assembly of Bihar on 29 November 2015.
In April 2015, the Janata Parivar Alliance group (a group of six parties –
Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...
,
Janata Dal (United)
Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...
,
Rashtriya Janata Dal
The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...
,
Janata Dal (Secular)
{{Infobox Indian Political Party
, party_name = Janata Dal (Secular)
, party_logo =
, colorcode = {{party color, Janata Dal (Secular)
, abbreviation = JD(S)
, president = H. D. Deve Gowda
, founder ...
,
Indian National Lok Dal
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is a political party based primarily in the Indian state of Haryana. It was initially founded as the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) by Devi Lal in 1996, who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.
The ...
and
Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)) announced their intention to fight the election, with
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...
as their Chief Ministerial candidate. The Janta Parivar was joined by the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
and the
Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...
. This coalition was restructured as ''
Mahagatabandhan'' when the
Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...
,
Janata Dal (Secular)
{{Infobox Indian Political Party
, party_name = Janata Dal (Secular)
, party_logo =
, colorcode = {{party color, Janata Dal (Secular)
, abbreviation = JD(S)
, president = H. D. Deve Gowda
, founder ...
,
Indian National Lok Dal
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is a political party based primarily in the Indian state of Haryana. It was initially founded as the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) by Devi Lal in 1996, who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.
The ...
and
Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) departed from the Janata Parivar Alliance.
The
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
-led
NDA fought the election alongside the
Lok Janshakti Party, the
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and
Hindustani Awam Morcha
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (English: Indian People's Front), abbreviated HAM(S), is an Political parties in India, Indian political party with a presence in Bihar. In Bihar, this party is also a natural Allies of National Democratic Allian ...
.
Six left parties fought jointly, independently from both of the two main blocs.
[Catch News. ]
Voters dissatisfied with Nitish & Lalu will choose us, not BJP, says CPI(ML) chief
'
This election saw the highest voter turnout in Bihar assembly polls since
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
, with a 56.8% voter turnout in this election.
The RJD emerged as a single largest party with 80 seats, followed by JD (U) with 71 seats and BJP with 53 seats. In terms of vote share, BJP came first with 24.4%, followed by RJD with 18.4% and JD (U) with 16.8% and Congress got 6.7%.
Background
Electoral process changes
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...
announced that around 1,000
Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines will be used along with EVM in 36 out of the 243 assembly seats in Bihar elections, spread over 38 districts.
ECIL manufactured VVPATs will be used in 10 assembly constituencies, while
BEL manufactured VVPAT will be used in 26 assembly constituencies. The election information was webcast for the first time and voters can locate their polling booth on phones via an app. About 1.5
crore
Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...
voters would be informed about the voting dates via
SMS
Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...
.
Election Commission used three new software products – Suvidha, Samadhan and Sugam – to facilitate campaigning, public grievance redressal and vehicle management in Bihar. Electoral Roll Management Software helped in addition/deletion/upgradation of rolls. Android based app 'Matdan' helped the commission with poll-day monitoring in Bihar. Election Commission launched a special drive, Systematic Voters' Education And Electoral Participation (SVEEP) for voter awareness and higher voter turn out in Bihar elections. Bihar would be the first state to have photo electoral rolls, with photographs of candidates on EVMs.
Eleven
NRI voters registered in the electoral rolls for the first time in Bihar electoral history. They were contacted by election officials through their family members. It was the first time that NRIs cast their votes semi-electronically from foreign countries. The e-postal ballot system and the existing proxy-voting facility is extended for NRI voters from their place of residence abroad. But this facility is not available to migrant voters within India.
A cross will be
NOTA symbol to be used in this and subsequent elections. The Election Commission introduced the specific symbol for NOTA, a ballot paper with a black cross across it, on 18 September. The symbol is designed by the
National Institute of Design
The National Institutes of Design (NID) are a group of autonomous public design institutes in India, with the first institute established in 1961 in Ahmedabad. The other NIDs are located in the cities of Kurukshetra, Amaravati, Jorhat and Bho ...
,
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...
.
On 31 July, the ECI published the final voters' list for the election, which has an overall population of 10,38,04,637, in accordance with the
2011 Census of India.
Security
The security used Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) drones, called ''Netras'' (eyes) for the election. The
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...
decided that
Bihar Police personnel would not be deployed at any of the 62,779 polling stations. They would be manned by members of the
Central Armed Police Forces
The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) consist of seven armed police organizations under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, tasked with maintaining internal security, law and order, counterinsurgency, and protecting borde ...
.
Bihar Legislative Council election
In July 2015, BJP-led
NDA won 13 seats (including 1 independent backed by BJP) out of 24 seats of
Bihar Legislative Council
Bihar Legislative assembly also known as Bihar Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India.
History
A new Province of Bihar and Odisha was created by the Government of India on 12 Decem ...
election. JDU and RJD combine won 10 seats only, while 1 seat was won by an independent candidate.
Central government actions
On 19 August, the central government notified 21 Bihar districts, including the capital
Patna
Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...
, as backward areas and unveiled tax rebates for them. On 25 August, the central government released the religious data of the 2011 census. Hindus constituted 82.7% (8.6 crore people) in Bihar, while Muslims constituted 16.9% (1.7 crore peoples).
In July 2015,
Jitan Ram Manjhi was accorded "Z"-plus security cover by the Union Home Ministry, while
Pappu Yadav was accorded "Y" category security by government of India.
Other political developments
In May 2015, the JDU government increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) by six percent to 11 percent for provincial government employees and pensioners. In July, Nitish Kumar announced a 50 percent quota for OBC, EBC and SC/STs in all government contracts up to Rs 15 lakh. In July, the government issued a notification to give caste certificates to children from upper caste Hindu and Muslim families whose annual income was below .
In September, the government agreed to the creation of a dedicated fund for fencing off temples and the inclusion of two Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs), Nishad (Mallah) and Nonia, in the SC/ST category.
The state government also decided to provide grants-in-aid to 609 more madrassas across Bihar from the list of 2,459 registered by Bihar State Madrassa Education Board. The Bihar government gave a tax-exempt status to
Manjhi – The Mountain Man, a film based on
Dashrath Manjhi, a Dalit who carved a path through a 360 ft long, 30 ft wide and 25 ft high
hillock
A hillock or knoll is a small hill,[The Free Dictionary](_blank)
"hillock" entry, retrieved December 18, 2007 ...
in 22 years (1960–1982). Opposition parties accused Nitish Kumar government of doing nothing for Manjhi's village
Gehlaur.
In April 2015, Nitish Kumar announced the JDU's decision to include few more castes, including the
Teli, in list of Extremely Backward Class, which have 18% reservation in Bihar.
Caste and religion data
The 2011 national census indicated that
Scheduled Castes constituted 16% of Bihar's 10.4 crores population. The census identified 21 of 23 Dalit sub-castes as ''Mahadalits''. The ''Mahadalit'' community consists of the following sub-castes: Bantar, Bauri, Bhogta, Bhuiya, Chaupal, Dabgar, Dom (Dhangad), Ghasi, Halalkhor, Hari (Mehtar, Bhangi), Kanjar, Kurariar, Lalbegi, Musahar, Nat, Pan (Swasi), Rajwar, Turi, Dhobi, Chamar and Paswan (Dusadh). Among Dalits in Bihar, Chamars are the largest 31.3%, followed by Paswans (Dusadh) 30.9% and Musahars 13.9%. The Paswan caste was initially left out of the Mahadalit category, to the consternation of Ram Vilas Paswan. Chamars were included later in Mahadalit category.
Adivasi
The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...
s (
Scheduled Tribes) constituted around 1.3% of the Bihari population. They include the Gond, Santhal and Tharu communities. There are about 130 Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) in Bihar.
Schedule
On 9 September, the Election Commission of India announced the dates for Bihar Assembly elections.
Parties and alliances
Mahagathbandhan
On 7 June, Lalu Prasad Yadav announced the RJD was joining in an alliance with the JDU for the election.
On 13 July, he led a march demanding that the central government release its findings of the
Socio Economic Caste Census 2011
The Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC) was conducted for the 2011 Census of India. The Second ministry of Manmohan Singh, Manmohan Singh government approved the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 to be carried out after discussion in ...
(SECC) on caste, although Union Minister
Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 19468 October 2020) was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the First Modi ministry, first and Second Modi ministry, second Modi ministries. Pasw ...
pitched for a comprehensive classification of caste data of SECC 2011 before its release, and also said Lalu, Nitish will be worst impacted from the caste data even if its released. BJP Leader
Sushil Kumar Modi
Sushil Kumar Modi (5 January 1952 – 13 May 2024) was an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party who was a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He was a List of Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Deputy Chief Minister of ...
called for rectification of errors in the cases of 1.46 crore people in India, including 1.75 lakh in Bihar, before releasing the caste data.
On 3 August, incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar declared that he would not stand in the election. On 11 August, he announced the seat-sharing formula, according to which JD(U) and RJD will contest 100 seats each, while Congress will contest 40 seats in Bihar. NCP pulled out of this alliance later. On 23 September, Nitish Kumar announced the list of 242 candidates for the JDU–RJD–INC alliance. OBCs were most favoured in the alliance ticket distribution plan. 10% of tickets were allotted to women candidate by the alliance. The Congress Vice-president
Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Rajiv Gandhi (; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is currently serving as the 12th leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and as the member of the Lok Sabha for Rae Bareli Lok ...
assigned the task to shortlist Congress candidates for each of the 40 assembly constituencies to former
Governor of Kerala
The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the President of India, and holds office at the President's pleasure. The governor is ''de jure'' head of the govern ...
and Nagaland Nikhil Kumar.
Nitish Kumar was the declared chief ministerial candidate for the ''
Mahagathbandhan'' (Grand Alliance). Kumar started his ''Har Ghar Dastak'' (door-to-door) campaign on 2 July. Initially there were definite political overtures when both
Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 with a brief interruption in 1995 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founder and president o ...
and
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...
shared stage together in a public event commemorating former chief minister Satyendra Narain Sinha's birth anniversary that witnessed veiled attacks on each other, the last time they did it in public.
Prashant Kishor was a key election strategist for the alliance. The Janata Dal-United started 400 audio-visual vans called ''Jan Bhagidari Manch'' ''rath''s for the campaign. Kumar is launching 'Bihar Samman Sammelan' in various cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, to connect with the Bihari diaspora.
However, the grand alliance broke on 26 July 2017 as a result of the resignation by Nitish Kumar and on the next day 27 July JD(U) made an alliance with NDA and Nitish Kumar sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the 6th time and Sushil Modi was sworn in as the deputy chief minister for the 3rd time.
National Democratic Alliance
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

The
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
(BJP) used 243 GPS-monitored ''rath''s (modified
Boleros
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...
) and video vans in the election.
The BJP also set up a monitoring headquarters in Patna to track the movement of the GPS-equipped vehicles which will visit 40,000 villages in all 243 constituencies. The campaign was kick-started by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
in
Muzaffarpur
Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district on the banks of Burhi Gandak River, Burhi Gandak river in the Tirhut division of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur distri ...
on 25 July, where he also inaugurated the permanent campus of
IIT Patna in
Bihta. The BJP election exercise also involved three
lakh
A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...
volunteers.
Modi held his second election rally in Gaya on 9 August and his third rally in
Arrah
Arrah (also transliterated as Ara) is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district, India, Bhojpur district (formerly known as Shahabad district) in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, India, Bhojpur ...
and
Saharsa
Saharsa is a city and municipal corporation in the Saharsa District in the eastern part of the state of Bihar, India. It is situated near the eastern banks of the Kosi River. It serves as the administrative headquarters for the Saharsa District ...
on 18 August. Modi announced a Rs 1.25 lakh crore package for Bihar. He addressed his fourth rally in Bhagalpur on 1 September.
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
actor
Ajay Devgan
Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director, and producer. One of the most prolific actors of Hindi cinema, Devgn has appeared in over 100 films and has won numerous accola ...
also campaigned for the BJP. Modi addressed several rallies after 25 October in several constituencies.
In a rally in
Buxar
Buxar is a nagar parishad city in the state of Bihar, India, sharing border with Balia and Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the eponymous Buxar district, as well as the headquarters of the community development ...
on 26 October, Modi vowed to defend reservation of Dalits, STs, OBCs. He said of the ''Mahagathbandhan'' that it was trying to hatch a conspiracy to carve out a sub-quota on the basis of religion as the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
has said reservation cannot be more than 50%. On 27 October, in
Bettiah
Bettiah is a city and the administrative headquarters of West Champaran district ( Tirhut Division) - ( Tirhut). It is near the Indo-Nepal border, northwest of Patna, in the state of Bihar, India.
History
In 1244 A.D., Gangeshwar Dev, a B ...
, he again accused Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav of diluting the share of SC, ST and OBC. It promoted the view that an attempt was being made to take the reservation of Dalits and other OBCs and give it to other minorities. Union Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley also agreed with Modi's assertions that the idea of reservations on the basis of religion is fraught with danger. On 1 November, Modi repeated the allegations that the two leaders came together in July 2005 to demand a review of the policy to provide for religion-based reservation. A video dating from 2005 which was leaked showed Lalu was asking for a quota for Muslims. On 3 July, BJP announced its seventh ''morcha'', the BJP OBC Morcha, reportedly in regards to the election.
On 11 June, Jitan Ram Manjhi announced his party
Hindustani Awam Morcha
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (English: Indian People's Front), abbreviated HAM(S), is an Political parties in India, Indian political party with a presence in Bihar. In Bihar, this party is also a natural Allies of National Democratic Allian ...
alliance with the NDA for the election.
On 14 September, the NDA announced its seat distribution: BJP got 160 seats, LJP got 40 seats, RLSP got 23 seats and HAM got 20 seats. The NDA did not announce any chief ministerial candidate. BJP announced the names of 154 candidates in three lists. Caste played a major role in distributing tickets. BJP also accommodated five candidates of the Hindustani Awam Morcha. Later, the BJP gave the Imamganj seat to HAM for Majhi is contesting and BJP reduced its seat tally to 159. On 1 October, the BJP released its manifesto.
Socialist Secular Morcha
On 19 September, the leaders of six parties –
Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...
,
Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...
,
Jan Adhikar Party,
Samras Samaj Party
Samras Samaj Party (SSP) is a former political party in Bihar. SSP was a splinter faction of Janata Dal (United) (JDU). The leader of SSP is Nagmani.
In September 2015, the leaders of six parties Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party, J ...
,
National People's Party and
Samajwadi Janata Dal Democratic – announced the formation of a third front known as the Socialist Secular Morcha.
SP and NCP fought on most of the seats. NPP fought on 3 seats.
On 15 October, NCP leader
Tariq Anwar announced that his party had decided to leave the third front.
Left Front
On 24 July, the
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...
, the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...
, the
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led militant struggles such as the peasant revo ...
, the
All India Forward Bloc
The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a Left-wing nationalism, left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a Political faction, faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose, and was strongest ...
, the
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)
The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C) is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shibdas Ghosh, Nihar Mukherjee and others in 1948.
Ideology
SUCI(C) is a communist party in ...
and the
Revolutionary Socialist Party decided to run in all constituencies on a join ticket citing its call for an alternative platform.
The CPI will contest 98 seats, while the CPI-ML, CPI(M), SUCI, Forward Bloc, and RSP will contest 98, 43, 10, 9, and 3 seats, respectively. CPI released its first list of 81 candidates on 16 September 2015.
Others
Muslim parties
At least six Muslim parties contested the election. AIMIM contested six seats.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader
Asaduddin Owaisi
Asaduddin Owaisi (born 13 May 1969) is an Indian politician who is serving as the third and current president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) since 2008. He is a five time Member of Parliament (India), Member of Parliame ...
addressed a rally in
Kishanganj
Kishanganj is a city and district headquarters of Kishanganj district in Purnia division of Bihar state in India.
History
Kishanganj, which was previously part of Purnia district, is part of the Mithila region.
Mithila first gained prominen ...
on 16 August. Owaisi accused Nitish and Lalu of keeping the
Seemanchal region (consisting of 24 seats) as a backward region. AIMIM is contesting on 6 assembly seats in Seemanchal region where Muslim voters play a major role. He addressed a public rally in Kishanganj on 4 October in the Sontha village, which is part of the
Kochadhaman Assembly constituency. He held further rallies at many places in Kishanganj and Purnia.
On 5 October, AIMIM released its first list of its six candidates for the election.
Bahujan Samaj Party
In June 2015, the
Bahujan Samaj Party
The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...
said it would contest all 243 seats.
In July, the BSP initially released its first list of 49 candidates, including five women candidates, by Bharat Bind, the president of the BSP Bihar unit.
National party leader
Mayawati
Kumari Mayawati (born Kumari Mayawati Das; 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1995 to 1995, 1997 to 1997, 2002 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2012. She is the national president of t ...
planned to campaign for its candidates.
BSP's first list has 11
Other Backward Class (OBCs) and 11
Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, while they also field Dalits and OBCs from non-reserved seats.
On 6 September, Mayawati said of the central government that it was being "remote-controlled" by the "communal and fascist" organisation
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...
(RSS).
Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Munquad Ali (Rajya Sabha MP), and Ram Achal Rajbhar were appointed to form a strategy to consolidate the Dalits, Most Backward Castes (MBCs), and Muslim votes.
On 9 September, Mayawati questioned the announcement of Dearness Allowance (DA) by the central government just before the election and again accused the RSS and its affiliated
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the RSS" or the "RSS family") is an umbrella term for the collection of Hindutva organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which remain affiliated to it. These include the pol ...
organizations of using the 2011 national census for fear-mongering against Muslim population growth for sectarian purposes, as well as to divert attention from such issues as the alleged failure of the central government to deliver on its promises. She added that the census also showed positive signs such as the sex ratio among Muslims is 951 females to 1,000 males, which is higher than the national average and indicated a slowing of the Muslim population growth rate.
On 10 September, she called for the deployment of central forces in large numbers on electoral duty to assure a free and fair election and further asked the ECI to keep a watch on possible sectarian ploys by the BJP.
Mayawati officially launched the party's campaign on 9 October from
Banka.
On 13 October, addressing a rally in Rohtas and Kaimur districts, she claimed that the SP chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialism, socialist figure and founder of the Samajwadi Party. Over the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three t ...
and the party leadership had surrendered to the BJP. She claimed that it has fielded candidates after consulting with the BJP.
She further called on the NDA to not allow the reservation policy for OBCs and SC/STs to fall under the RSS' influence.
On 25 October, Mayawati while addressing a rally in
Buxar district
Buxar district is one of the 38 districts of Bihar, India. Located in the southwestern part of the state, it is a primarily agricultural district. The district headquarters is at the town of Buxar. Buxar district was carved out from Bhojpur d ...
of Bihar said that
Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...
played in the hands of BJP due to which
Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...
(NCP) broke away from it. She also alleged that BJP is working only for the Business class and the Nitish-Lalu governments did nothing for the poor.
Minor
Expelled RJD MP
Pappu Yadav created the Jan Adhikar Party before the election and announced to fight against the Lalu-Nitish alliance.
Yogendra Yadav
Yogendra Yadav (born 5 September 1963) is an Indian activist, Psephology, psephologist and politician whose primary interests are in the political and social sciences. He was a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies ...
has announced that Swaraj Abhiyan may extend its support to certain political parties, however it was not clear which one.
On 17 September,
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...
announced that it will contest over 150 seats during the election. On 19 September, a third front – Socialist Secular Morcha – announced its seat distribution: SP got 85 seats, Janadhikar Party got 64 seats, NCP got 40 seats, SSP got 28 seats, SJP got 23 seats and NPP got three seats. Former U.K. banker Akshay Verma's Sarvajan Kalyan Loktantrik Party contested about 90 seats in the election.
The
Aam Aadmi Party
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP, ) is a List of political parties in India, political party in India. It was founded on 26 November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions, following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement against then gover ...
and
JVM-P decided that they will not contest the election, but will campaign against the NDA.
Opinion polls
Election
The electoral process cost about to the Bihar government exchequer.
The electorate in Chandila village of Maker block in Saran district's
Amnour Assembly constituency boycotted the election and no votes were cast in protest against the government's failure to bring electricity to their village.
Exit polls
The Axis APM polls was not finally aired by its commissioning news channel, CNN–IBN.
Results
The result was announced on 8 November. The counting of EVMs of 14 assembly constituencies of
Patna district
Patna district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state in eastern India. Patna, the capital of Bihar, is the district headquarters. The Patna district is a part of the Patna division. The Patna district is divided into 6 Subdivisio ...
was done in
AN College Patna. The NOTA option had nine lakhs, or 2.5%, of popular votes and was the highest it had achieved in Bihar elections. The number of Yadav MLAs increased to 61 in the Bihar assembly.
Results showed that, of the 53 seats won by BJP, 27 were urban areas, which signified that BJP had dramatically shrunk back to its traditional urban support base in Bihar. BJP failed to make a big impact in the rural areas of Bihar, which has one of the lowest urbanization rates. Only 11.3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, which is lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh.
According to one analysis, RJD was the biggest beneficiary of this election. RJD increased its seat tally by 59 compared with the previous election. RJD had the best strike rate by winning 81 of the 101 seats contested. RJD became the single largest party in Bihar Assembly. RJD defeated BJP in 36 seats BJP had won in the last election, similarly, it took 25 seats JD (U) had won in the last election.
Summary
, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;"
! Colspan=2, Alliance
! Colspan=2, Political party
! Votes
! Vote %
! Change
in vote %
! Vote % in
seats contested
! Seats
contested
! Won
! Net change
in seats
! % of
seats
, -
, rowspan=3 bgcolor=#008000,
, rowspan="3" style="text-align:center; ,
Mahagathbandhan
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Rashtriya Janata Dal
The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...
, 69,95,509
, 18.4
, 0.44
, 44.35
, 101
, 80
, 58
, 32.92
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Janata Dal (United)
Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...
, 64,16,414
, 16.8
, 5.81
, 40.65
, 101
, 71
, 44
, 29.21
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
, 25,39,638
, 6.7
, 1.68
, 39.49
, 41
, 27
, 23
, 11.11
, -style="background:blue; color: white;
, -
, rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;background: orange; color: white;",
, align=center rowspan=4,
NDA
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
, 93,08,015
, 24.4
, 7.94
, 37.48
, 157
, 53
, 38
, 21.81
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Lok Janshakti Party
, 18,40,834
, 4.8
, 1.95
, 28.79
, 42
, 2
, 1
, 0.82
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party
, 9,76,787
, 2.6
, -
, 0.64
, 23
, 2
, 2
, 0.82
, -
, bgcolor=#FF0000,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Hindustani Awam Morcha
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (English: Indian People's Front), abbreviated HAM(S), is an Political parties in India, Indian political party with a presence in Bihar. In Bihar, this party is also a natural Allies of National Democratic Allian ...
, 8,64,856
, 2.3
, -
, 26.90
, 21
, 1
, 1
, 0.41
, -style="background:orange; color: white;
, -
, rowspan=6 bgcolor=#FF0000,
, rowspan="6" style="text-align:center;, Left Front
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...
, 5,16,699
, 1.36
, 0.29
, 3.43
, 98
, 0
, 1
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
CPI(ML) Liberation
, 5,87,701
, 1.54
, 0.29
, 3.82
, 98
, 3
, 3
, 1.23
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...
, 2,32,149
, 0.61
, 0.21
, 3.32
, 43
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)
The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C) is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shibdas Ghosh, Nihar Mukherjee and others in 1948.
Ideology
SUCI(C) is a communist party in ...
, 11,621
, 0.03
, 0.02
, 0.74
, 10
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
All India Forward Bloc
The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a Left-wing nationalism, left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a Political faction, faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose, and was strongest ...
, 6,936
, 0.02
, 0.00
, 0.21
, 9
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Revolutionary Socialist Party
, 3,045
, 0.01
, 0.00
, 0.64
, 3
, 0
,
, 0
, -
, rowspan=6,
, rowspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Socialist
Secular
Morcha
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...
, 3,85,511
, 1.0
, 0.45
, 1.83
, 85
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik)
, 5,14,748
, 1.4
,
,
, 64
, 0
,
, 0
, -
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...
, 1,85,437
, 0.5
, 1.32
, 2.82
, 40
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Samras Samaj Party
Samras Samaj Party (SSP) is a former political party in Bihar. SSP was a splinter faction of Janata Dal (United) (JDU). The leader of SSP is Nagmani.
In September 2015, the leaders of six parties Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party, J ...
,
,
,
,
, 28
, 0
,
, 0
, -
, bgcolor=#008000,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Samajwadi Janata Dal Democratic
,
,
,
,
, 23
, 0
,
, 0
, -
, bgcolor=#DB7093,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
National People's Party
,
,
,
,
, 3
, 0
,
, 0
, -
, rowspan=7,
, rowspan="7" style="text-align:center;", Others
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Bahujan Samaj Party
The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...
, 7,88,024
, 2.1
, 1.11
, 2.21
, 243
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...
, 2,11,131
, 0.6
, 0.21
, 1.84
, 150
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" , Sarvajan Kalyan Loktantrik Party
, 1,08,851
, 0.3
,
, 0.91
, 90
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (; ) is a political party in the Indian state of Jharkhand, founded by Binod Bihari Mahato, Shibu Soren, and A. K. Roy. Hemant Soren is the president of the JMM. JMM is also an influential political party in the state ...
, 1,03,940
, 0.3
, 0.31
, 2.02
,
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Garib Janata Dal (Secular)
, 92,279
, 0.2
,
, 0.66
,
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
, 80,248
, 0.2
,
, 8.04
, 6
, 0
,
, 0
, -
,
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Independents
, 35,80,953
, 9.4
, 3.82
, 9.57
, 1150
, 4
, 2
, 1.64
, -
, Colspan=1,
,
,
, style="text-align:left;colspan = 4,
NOTA
, 9,47,276
, 2.5
,
, 2.49
, 243
,
,
,
, -
, - class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
! colspan = 3, Total
! 3,76,73,594
! style="text-align:center;" , 100.00
! colspan = 1,
!
! style="text-align:center;" , 243
!
!
!
!
, -
! colspan="12" ,
, -
, style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" , Valid votes
, 3,76,73,594
, 99.94
, colspan="7" rowspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ,
, -
, style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" , Invalid votes
, 23,384
, 0.06
, -
, style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" , Votes cast / turnout
, 3,76,73,594
, 56.91
, -
, style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" , Abstentions
, 2,85,46,215
, 43.09
, -
, style="text-align:right;" colspan="3" , Registered voters
, 6,62,43,193
, colspan="1" style="background-color:#E9E9E9",
, -
Results by district
Results by constituency
MLA statistics
* 1 in every 4 new members in Bihar Assembly is a Yadav
* Elected MLAs caste-wise-2015
ಬಿಹಾರದ ಶಾಸಕರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾದವರು ಶೇ 25ರಷುı!
Government formation
Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as chief minister for the fifth time on 20 November 2015 after the Mahagathbandhan alliance won a sweeping victory, taking 178 seats. The two sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Tejaswi and Tej Pratap were also sworn in as ministers. Tejaswi Yadav became Deputy Chief Minister. Apart from Nitish Kumar, 12 members each from the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal and four from the Congress were administered the oath of office as ministers.
On 26 July 2017, the Grand Alliance broke and a new coalition government between JD(U) and the BJP was formed.
Voting analysis
A phase-wise analysis of the polling percentages puts the fifth and final phase on the top with a 60% turnout. The polling in this round beats the 58.5% turnout recorded in the fourth phase, as also 53.7% voting in the third phase, 55.5% in the second, and 55.8% in the first phase.
* 2015 – 56.9%; 2010 – 52.7%; 2005 – 45.9%; 2000 – 62.6% (Assembly Polls were held twice in 2005 due to a fractured verdict.)
See also
*
2015 elections in India
Legislative assembly elections
The elections in India in 2015 include the two Legislative Assembly elections in India, state legislative assembly elections. The tenures of the state legislative assembly of Bihar Legislative Assembly, Bihar were ...
*
List of Assembly constituencies of Bihar
*
Chief Ministers of Bihar
The chief minister of Bihar serves as the head of the Government of Bihar, overseeing its administration and governance within the constitutional framework of India. While the Governor of Bihar holds the ceremonial role of the constitutional ...
*
2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election
The election to the 17th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was held from 11 February to 8 March 2017 in 7 phases. This election saw a voter turnout of 61.11% compared to 59.40% in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, previous ...
*
Fifth Nitish Kumar ministry
*
Sixth Nitish Kumar ministry
References
External links
Bihar Lok Sabha election 2019 results websiteDetailed results – Election Commission of India, State Elections, 2015 Legislative Assembly of Bihar
{{Bihar elections
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...