The Legislative Assembly election was held over five phases in the Indian state of Bihar through October–November 2015 before the end of the tenure of the prior Bihar Legislative Assembly on 29 November 2015.

In April 2015, the Janata Parivar Alliance group (a group of six parties – Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular), Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)) announced their intention to fight the election, with Nitish Kumar as their Chief Ministerial candidate. The Janta Parivar was joined by the Muslim League and the Nationalist Congress Party. This coalition was restructured as Mahagatabandhan when the Samajwadi party , Janata Dal (Secular), Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) departed from the Janata Parivar Alliance.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA fought the election alongside the Lok Janshakti Party, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha.

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, with a 56.8% voter turnout in this election. The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) of RJD, JD(U), and INC won a decisive majority with 178 seats. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) emerged as the single largest party with 80 seats, followed by JD(U) with 71 seats, and Congress with 27 seats. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a total of 58 seats, of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 53. In terms of vote share, the BJP secured the highest share with 24.4%, followed by the RJD with 18.4% and the JD(U) with 16.8%. The Congress obtained 6.7%.

Background

Electoral process changes

Election Commission of India 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 voters would be informed about the voting dates via SMS.

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. Assembly constituencies of Bihar having VVPAT facility with EVMs Katihar Purnia Kishanganj Saharsa Samastipur Forbesganj Munger Jamui Madhubani Begusarai Khagaria Gopalganj Supaul MadhepuraSasaram Aurangabad BuxarJehanabadNawadaSitamarhiBhabhuaMotihari Bettiah HajipurGaya TownMuzaffarpur Darbhanga Ara Biharsarif Chhapra Siwan Kumhrar Bankipur Digha Bhagalpur Banka

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, Ahmedabad.

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. + Final voters list for Bihar Legislative Assembly election 2015 S.No Group of voters Voters population 1 Male 3,56,46,870 2 Female 3,11,77,619 3 Third gender 2,169 – Total voters 6,68,26,658

Security The security used Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) drones, called Netras (eyes) for the election. The Election Commission of India 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.

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 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, 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 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. Adivasis (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.

Estimated population of castes of Bihar before the caste survey. Caste By Reserve Category Population (%) Notes OBC 63% ( BC-II - 27% BC-I - 36%)Yadav – 14.2% Koeri – 4.2% Kurmis – 2.8% Baniya – 2.3% Surjapuri Muslim – 1.8%Other – 1.7(EBCs – 36% – includes Julaha/Ansari–3.5%Teli – 3.2% ) SC 19%includes Chamar – 5%, Dusadh – 5%, Musahar – 2.8% EWS 15% Shaikh – 3.8% Brahmin – 3.6% Rajput – 3.4% Bhumihar – 2.8% Pathan – 0.7% Kayasth – 0.6%Syed – 0.2% ST 1.3% Others 0.4%includes Christians, Sikhs, Jains

Schedule On 9 September, the Election Commission of India announced the dates for Bihar Assembly elections.

Phase Date No. of constituencies Covering districts I 12 October 49 Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura, Nawada, Jamui II 16 October 32 Kaimur, Rohtas, Arwal, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Gaya III 28 October 50 Saran, Vaishali, Nalanda, Patna, Bhojpur, Buxar IV 1 November 55 Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan V 5 November 57 Madhubani, Supaul, Araria, Kishanganj, Purnia, Katihar, Madhepura, Saharsa, Darbhanga Counting 8 November 243 Source: Election Commission of India

Parties and alliances

Mahagathbandhan PartyFlagSymbolPhotoLeaderSeats contestedRashtriya Janata DalLalu Prasad Yadav101Janata Dal (United)Nitish Kumar101Indian National CongressAshok Chaudhary41 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 (SECC) on caste, although Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan 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 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 assigned the task to shortlist Congress candidates for each of the 40 assembly constituencies to former Governor of Kerala 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 and Nitish Kumar 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 raths 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

PartyFlagSymbolPhotoLeaderSeats contestedBharatiya Janata PartySushil Modi157Lok Janshakti PartyRam Vilas Paswan42Rashtriya Lok Samta PartyUpendra Kushwaha23Hindustani Awam MorchaJitan Ram Manjhi21