UPSC Knowledge Cluster: Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: Out of the Polls

Why in the news?

Voting for the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections ended on Tuesday evening (November 11). Exit polls, which announced their forecasts after the completion of voting, unanimously showed that the NDA coalition, led by the BJP and Prime Minister Nitish Kumar’s party, is well above the majority mark of 122 seats in the 243-seat House. They estimated that the RJD Mahagathbandhan-led opposition would get about 100 seats or less.

Main takeaways:

1. Exit polls are opinion polls conducted by major media outlets and independent agencies immediately after voting ends. These polls show an early indication of voter sentiment and emerging trends. However, exit polls are not always accurate and should not be considered final results. In recent years, many polls outside polling stations have proven erratic.

2. Many agencies like Axis My India, CVoter, IPSOS, Jan Ki Baat and Today’s Chanakya conduct exit polls and release their forecasts through TV channels, official websites and social media platforms.

3. As per Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines, exit polls cannot be published before the entire voting process is completed. This is only to avoid influencing voters who have not yet voted.

4. It is important to understand that polls are different from opinion polls Opinion polls. Opinion polls are conducted before elections. There have been calls in the past to ban opinion polls and opinion polls because they led to “undue influence” on voters.

5. In two all-party meetings called by the Election Commission in 1997 and 2004, there was consensus on the demand to ban elections. The difference of opinion was only on whether the ban should be applied from the date of announcing the polling schedule or from the date of notification. In 1998, the European Export Credit Commission issued guidelines that were challenged in the Supreme Court.

Women voters wait in line to cast their votes in the second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections in West Champaran on Tuesday. (@CEOBiharX/ANI Photo)

6. A five-judge Constitution Bench asked the Election Commission of India how these decisions could be implemented in the absence of the law. Realizing their weakness, the Election Commission of India withdrew the guidelines until the law was passed. Unfortunately, this left the constitutionality of this issue undetermined.

7. No The issue resurfaced in 2008 When several political parties came to the Election Commission of India demanding a ban on opinion polls and polls. The IEC advised them that they needed to raise this matter in Parliament, as it required a legislative amendment. Parliament added Section 126A of the Representation of the People Act 1951, Provide detailed provision for exit survey.

8. Section 126A of the RPA Act, 1951, It is prohibited to conduct exit polls and publish their results via print or electronic media between the hour specified for the start of voting in the first stage and half an hour after the time specified for the closing of voting for the final stage in all electoral districts.

An election official displays the CU (control unit) during a training session for vote counting in the Bihar Assembly elections, in Patna on Monday. (Annie’s photo)

9. For opinion polls, Section 126(1)(b) of the RPA Act, 1951 It is prohibited to present any electoral issue, including the results of any opinion poll or any other opinion poll, in any electronic media within a period of 48 hours ending with the hour specified for the conclusion of the poll at each stage of the elections.

10. Violations of these provisions are considered acts punishable by law. Section 126A(3) It stipulates that any person who violates the provisions of this chapter shall be punished with imprisonment for a period that may extend to two years, a fine, or both.

Behind the block: Why vote?

The 2025 Bihar Assembly elections witnessed two major milestones:

✅ Overall voter turnout rate of 66.91%; The highest since the first Bihar elections in 1951

✅ Bihar state records the highest voter turnout in its history

⇒ In democracies, voting is seen as an essential practice that demonstrates people’s confidence in the political process. After all, the right to vote was secured by various disenfranchised groups – colonized peoples, women, and racial and ethnic minorities – after long struggles. Voting gives each person the right to have a say in who will hold positions of power in their community, and is an important part of the exercise of citizenship.

⇒Having the right to vote makes one feel part of a larger community where their voice matters. Emmeline Pankhurst, a British suffragette, argued before women had the right to vote: “Men make the moral law and expect women to accept it. They have decided that it is quite right and proper for men to fight for their liberties and rights, but it is not quite right and proper for women to fight for theirs.”

⇐ In this sense, representative voting plays a role in people feeling like stakeholders in the system.

Post a reading question

Consider the following statements about exit polls:

1. Section 126A of the RPA Act 1951 prohibits the holding of an exit poll for 12 hours after the close of polling in the final stage of an election.

2. Violation of Article 126A shall be punishable by imprisonment for a period which may extend to two years, or by a fine, or by both.

Which of the following statements is true/correct?

(A) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

(Sources: Bihar Election 2025 Exit Polls: Exit Polls Predict Clear Sweep for NDA in Bihar, ceotripura.nic.in, Why Exit Polls Need to Be Regulated, Exit Polls and Why They Are Being Restricted by the Commission: All Your Questions Answered This quote means: “We have a government not by a majority… but by a majority that participates”

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