At least five seats, from three districts — Kishanganj, Purnia and Katihar — which registered a 15 percentage point increase in voter turnout in the current elections, saw change of power as results for the Bihar Assembly elections 2025 trickled in on Friday 14 November.
The Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections witnessed a voter turnout of 65.08 percent in Phase-I and 68.76 percent in Phase-II of the polls, registering a record overall voter turnout of 66.91 percent. This marks an increase of 9.62 percentage points, when compared to the 2020 Assembly elections wherein the overall voter turnout was recorded at 57.29 percent.
In both the phases, more women cast their ballot when compared to men, with overall turnout among female voters tallying to 71.6 percent, while among male voters it was 62.8 percent.
But what impact did the record high voter turnout have on the power centre in Bihar? Let's take a look.
Five Seats With High Turnout See Incumbents Deseated
Kishanganj saw the voter turnout increase by 15.61 percentage points in the 2025 elections when compared to the 2020 elections, the largest among Bihar's districts. Of the four assembly seats that constitute the district, one has witnessed a change in power. Thakurganj held by RJD was wrested by AIMIM candidate Ghulam Hasnain.
Purnia, which saw the voter turnout increase by 14.92 percent points in the 2025 elections, witnessed power change in one of the seven Assembly seats that constitute the district. The Kasba seat, which was earlier held by the Congress has now been wrested by LJP(Ram Vilas) candidate Nitesh Kumar Singh.
Katihar witnessed an increase of 15.28 percentage points in the 2025 elections, when compared to 2020 polls. The district, which comprises seven Assembly seats, saw change of power in three seats. The Kadwa seat earlier held by Congress has now been wrested by JD(U) candidate Dulal Chandra Goswami; whereas as Balrampur previously held by CPI(ML) has now been wrested by LJP(Ram Vilas) candidate
Meanwhile, in the Manihari seat — one of the two seats in Bihar reserved for the Scheduled Tribes community — which was earlier held by Congress now has JD(U) candidate in the lead by a thin margin of 1250 votes (at the time of writing the story.)
According to the Election Commission's latest tally, the NDA [comprising BJP, JD(U) and LJP(RV) and others] are leading in at least 200 seats, while the Mahagathbandhan (comprising RJD, Congress and others) was leading in 28 seats — giving NDA a clear edge even as BJP wrested the title of the single largest party from the RJD. The Bihar Assembly has 243 seats, making 122 the majority mark. Follow LIVE updates here.