The political temperature in Bihar is rising rapidly as the state prepares for its upcoming Assembly election, with both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition pulling no punches in their campaigns. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is expected to announce the election schedule soon, even as the Supreme Court prepares to hear final arguments on the State’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on October 7, 2025. In a significant move, the Supreme Court has already ruled that Aadhar will serve as the twelfth valid document for voter identification, a decision likely to impact voter participation across the state, according to reporting from multiple outlets.
The credibility of the ECI has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, particularly after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s dramatic “vote chori” (vote theft) exposé on August 7, 2025. Gandhi’s allegations, which centered on the deletion of 6.5 million voters from Bihar’s rolls, have struck a nerve with the electorate and provided fresh ammunition for the opposition. As The Hindu reports, Gandhi and potential chief minister Tejaswi Yadav have taken this message directly to the people through two high-profile yatras—public marches designed to galvanize support and highlight alleged irregularities in the electoral process.
The first, the Voter Adhikar Yatra, saw Gandhi and Yadav touring the state in late August, drawing attention to the mass voter deletions and energizing supporters. The second, the Bihar Adhikar Yatra, kicked off on September 16, 2025, and is set to cover ten districts, amplifying calls for electoral justice and broader rights for Biharis. The rallies have been met with massive crowds, signaling a groundswell of support for the opposition and positioning Gandhi and Yadav as favorites in the upcoming contest, according to The Hindu.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, faces a more skeptical audience in Bihar this time around. Despite the state’s low literacy rate—Bihar ranks lowest in the country according to the 2011 census—it is renowned for its political acumen. As The Hindu notes, Bihari voters are seasoned observers of political theater, and many have dismissed the latest controversies as familiar tactics. When, during the Voter Adhikar Yatra’s stop in Darbhanga, a comment was made about Modi’s mother, many locals suspected a "false flag" operation orchestrated by the BJP to distract from the “vote chori” campaign. Others simply shrugged it off, accustomed as they are to the state’s spicy, sometimes abrasive, style of political campaigning.
Modi’s use of his own family in political narratives has also drawn criticism. According to The Hindu, voters have grown weary of what they see as the Prime Minister equating personal attacks on himself or his mother with attacks on the nation itself—an approach that has begun to ring hollow for many. “Citizens are fatigued with this pseudo-drama,” the report states, capturing a sense of disillusionment that seems to run deep among Bihar’s electorate.
Adding to the tumult, the BJP organized a Bihar bandh—a shutdown of essential services—about two weeks before September 18, 2025, in response to the alleged insult to Modi’s mother. However, the protest was largely ineffective, with only a handful of participants and little impact on daily life. As The Hindu describes it, the bandh “was a laughable flop, with a handful of well-fed, freshly attired upper caste protestors gathered on some street corners in Patna (and other towns), looking discomfited without their parasols or spittoons.” The event did little to shift the political momentum, which remains firmly with the opposition, buoyed by the issues of voter fraud and caste reservations—topics that resonate not just in Bihar, but across India.
On the other side of the aisle, the BJP has been quick to counter the opposition’s narrative. Home Minister Amit Shah, during a two-day visit to Patna starting September 18, 2025, launched a direct attack on Rahul Gandhi. According to Amar Ujala, Shah accused Gandhi of “trying to secure the votes of infiltrators by spreading propaganda about vote theft.” This sharp rebuke reflects the BJP’s strategy of framing the opposition’s campaign as not just misguided, but as an attempt to undermine the integrity of the electoral process itself by appealing to non-citizens.
Despite these efforts, the BJP faces significant challenges in mounting a compelling campaign. Critics point to the party’s lack of substantive issues to run on, particularly given the perceived failures of the so-called “double engine” government—a reference to the BJP’s alliance with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Promises of development and improved governance have not materialized for many Biharis. For example, Muzaffarpur, which was slated for transformation into a “smart city” soon after Modi took office in 2014, remains far from fulfilling that vision even after more than a decade, as highlighted by The Hindu.
Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar’s repeated calls for “special status” for Bihar have failed to yield tangible results, especially when compared to the successes of other state leaders like Andhra Pradesh’s N. Chandrababu Naidu. Grand plans, such as building a Sita temple in Sitamarhi to rival the Ram temple in Ayodhya, have done little to shift the mood on the ground, where voters appear more focused on bread-and-butter issues and the integrity of the electoral process.
The sense of disillusionment is further fueled by memories of recent elections that many believe were manipulated. According to The Hindu, the outcomes in Haryana and Maharashtra—where the Congress and its allies were widely expected to win—left a lingering suspicion among voters that the results were not entirely above board. Rahul Gandhi’s exposé of alleged vote theft has thus tapped into a deep well of skepticism, with many Biharis convinced that “something was wrong.”
As the campaign heats up, observers warn that the contest could become increasingly messy and even violent. The stakes are high, not just for Bihar but for the broader trajectory of Indian democracy. The opposition, emboldened by large crowds and a resonant message, aims to keep the spotlight on issues of voter rights and electoral fairness. The BJP, for its part, continues to rely on its established playbook, but with diminishing returns in a state where voters have seen it all before.
With the election schedule set to be announced and the Supreme Court poised to weigh in on key issues, Bihar stands at a crossroads. The coming weeks will reveal whether the electorate’s hunger for change can overcome the entrenched machinery of power, or if old patterns will once again prevail.
