Bihar Elections 2025: PM Modi Urges Voters ‘Pehle Matdaan, Fir Jalpaan’ to Boost Participation

Remarks by PM Modi to Voters

Bihar began voting for the first phase of the 2025 Assembly Election while Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked citizens to participate with pride in the “festival of democracy.” In a post on X, the Prime Minister congratulated young voters who are voting for the first time and encouraged voters to “prioritize [voting] first to everything else,” adding “Pehle matdaan, fir jalpaan,” (First vote, then breakfast).

Voting across 18 Districts 

The first phase of voting began at 7 a.m. and includes polling across 121 constituencies in 18 districts in Bihar. Nearly 3.75 crore voters are eligible to vote in this phase of polling. Voting will continue until 6 p.m., though some polling places, due to security reasons, will close at 5 p.m. The Election Commission has put into place strict protocols, with all Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) transported to the polling locations and counting officers for each polling center.

New and Young Voters

According to the Election Commission, this year there are 10.72 lakhs new voters that include 7.78 lakhs voters who fall in the 18-19 age group. PM Modi’s message will resonate with this voter group and motivate them to vote for the first time and strengthen democracy.

Leaders in the First Phase 

Leaders include Tejashwi Prasad Yadav (RJD), Samrat Choudhary (BJP), Shravan Kumar (JD-U), and Vijay Kumar Choudhary (JD-U)  Strongman Anant Singh and Tej Pratap Yadav are also in the running. Folk singer Maithili Thakur is one of the young candidate who previously wushu on a BJP ticket from Darbhanga.

Candidate and Parties 

It has 122 women candidates and 119 candidates from the Jan Suraaj Party. In the NDA checking contest JD(U) will contest 57 seats, BJP contest 48 of them and LJP (Ram Vilas) contests 14. In the Mahagathbandhan, RJD contests 73 seats, Congress 24 and CPI(ML) 14.

History

In the Bihar Assembly Elections 2020, the NDA won 125 seats and the Mahagathbandhan won 110. The 2025 elections with new candidates and new arrangements may well be close.

(INPUTS FROM ANI)

Also Read: Bihar Election 2025: Important Things Voters Should Keep in Mind While Voting | Voter Guide