Young and influential: Over 5,700 first-time voters per seat in Bihar

While announcing the schedule for the Bihar Assembly polls , the Election Commission (EC) on Monday said the state has 14.01 lakh first-time voters aged 18 to 19 years old. While the number of first-time voters has grown from 11.17 lakh in 2020, it’s below the 24.13 lakh registered in 2015.

But as elections in Bihar grow more competitive, and victory margins fall, first-time voters may prove to be a crucial vote bank.

On average, each of Bihar’s 243 Assembly constituencies has 5,765 first-time voters this year. In 2020, the figure stood at 4,597, well below the average in 2015 at 9,930 voters.

In the 2020 Assembly elections, there were 56 seats – 23% of all Bihar constituencies – where the current average number of first-time voters (5,765) exceeds the winning margins. In 2020, the av