The Election Commission of India has delivered a significant revelation about the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, confirming that opposition parties failed to substantiate their allegations of vote manipulation through official channels.
No Formal Complaints Filed
In an official statement, the Election Commission disclosed that not a single complaint or request for verification was received from any losing candidate across all 243 constituencies in Bihar. This development comes despite strong public statements from opposition leaders accusing the commission of bias and electoral manipulation.
The EC specifically noted that no applications were submitted for checking and verification of burnt memory or microcontrollers from any candidate who failed to win their seat. This verification process was made available under a revised standard operating procedure issued on June 17, following Supreme Court directions.
Verification Process Remained Unused
According to the Election Commission's framework, candidates placed at Serial No. 2 or Serial No. 3 behind the winning candidate could seek EVM verification within seven days of result declaration. However, none of the 2,616 candidates participating in the elections availed themselves of this opportunity.
The commission further clarified that no appeals were filed regarding the wrongful inclusion or exclusion of any voter after special intensive revision in any of Bihar's 38 districts. This includes complaints from both individual electors and the 12 recognized political parties in the state.
Transparency Measures Implemented
The EC statement, issued by assistant director Apurva Kumar Singh, highlighted that mandatory verification of VVPAT slips was conducted for five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency, totaling 1,215 polling stations across Bihar. The commission confirmed that no discrepancies were found between the EVM counts and VVPAT slips at any of these locations.
Singh also emphasized several achievements during the 2025 Bihar assembly elections, including making index cards available within 72 hours of result declaration and publishing complete statistical reports in the public domain within five days of election conclusion. These measures, the EC stated, were designed to promote transparency and provide accessible election data for researchers, academics, and the general public.
The revelations come after strong criticism from opposition parties, particularly RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who had accused the Election Commission of favoring the ruling BJP and manipulating voter lists. Tejashwi had also criticized the EC for not releasing gender-wise voter data immediately after the first phase of polling, calling it a departure from established practices. The EC has rejected all such allegations as baseless.
