After months of speculation, the Bihar Assembly elections will be held in two phases – on November 6 and November 11 – the Election Commission of India announced at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, October 6.

Counting of votes will be held on November 14.

The elections will be the first to take place after the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which removed 68.5 lakh voters and added 21.5 lakh new ones. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar had earlier asserted that the special intensive revision in Bihar “purified” the voters’ list after 22 years, and said many new initiatives were being undertaken for the upcoming assembly polls, which would be replicated across the country in due course.

The tenure of the 243-member state assembly will end

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