Ticket seekers crowd party offices in Patna on day of ECI’s announcement for Bihar election

With the announcement of dates for the Bihar Assembly election on Monday (October 6, 2025), a crowd of ticket seekers gathered at the offices of major parties in Patna in a bid to get the attention of their respective leaders to enter the electoral arena.

A large number of aspirants were standing outside the ruling Janata Dal (United) office in the city’s Beerchand Patel Path. Similar scenes were seen outside the offices of ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and principal Opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) a few metres ahead on the same stretch of the road.

“Within hours of the election dates being announced, our leader has come to the party office to stake his claim,” said few people donning white kurta pyjamas inside an SUV parked outside the JD(U) office. The vehicle has a slogan on it stating: ‘Hum hain Aurai Vidhan Sabha ka bhavishya (We are the future of Aurai assembly seat)‘. Aurai Assembly constituency falls in Muzaffarpur district of north Bihar. In the 2020 Assembly polls, the BJP won the seat as part of the NDA. The party’s Ram Surat Rai defeated the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) candidate Mohammad Aftab Alam by over 47,000 votes.

Outside the BJP office, the traffic was jam-packed as big billboards and posters of party leaders were visible from far and wide. At a tea stall outside the party office, few people in spotless white clothes sipped tea while discussing the poll prospects of the party this time. “Take it from me. The election is not going to happen in more than three phases and our party is going to form the government in the State,” a businessman from Lakhisarai said hours before the dates were announced. Senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha hails from Lakhisarai. Mr. Sinha is a four-time MLA from Lakhisarai constituency since 2005. When asked if he was a supporter of the BJP leader, the businessman quipped: “No, I’m a worker of the party”.

Some distance away at the RJD’s party office, a few vehicles were parked outside the premises while the boundary wall was plastered with posters of party leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu Prasad. “Tejashwi Yadav is going to be the Chief Minister of the State this time, if vote chori (vote theft) will not happen,” said a young party member wearing a green gamcha (towel) around his neck.“The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) had secured 110 seats [in 2020], just 12 short of majority in the 243-member State Assembly,” he added.

Oblivious to the hectic activity outside party offices hours before polling dates were announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his two deputies in the Cabinet, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha continued with their inauguration spree on Monday as they opened the first phase of the 3.45 km Patna metro, which will cover three stations in the State capital. The Patna metro service will be available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day with each train operating at 20 minute intervals. The minimum fare of the metro service in Patna will be ₹15 and maximum of ₹30. The total cost of the Patna metro is ₹13,925.5 crore which will have two corridors — Red Line (16.86 km) and Blue Line (14.56 km) — with a total of 24 stations.

Later at 4 p.m., the ECI announced the dates for the election with polling set to be held on November 6 and 11. The results of the election will be announced on November 14.