Bihar Election 2025: Election Commission data shows that nearly 24,000 of the over 200,000 postal ballots were rejected during the counting of votes for the Bihar Assembly elections. Of the 50.2 million votes cast, including EVMs and postal ballots, 49.3 million were found valid, while 93.4 million were invalid. 

According to the poll panel, 23,918 of the 20.1 million postal votes cast were rejected. The EC stated that the total valid votes cast—49.3 million—were arrived at after removing NOTA votes. Furthermore, the poll authority asserted that its count was "100 percent accurate." In a social media post, the EC stated that over 17.7 million postal votes were ignored in a "viral claim" alleging a "fake mismatch." The poll body said that once postal votes are included, "the numbers match perfectly." 

The percentage of rejected postal votes out of the total postal votes was 11.87 percent. Of these, 9.10 lakh None of the Above (NOTA) votes, which include votes cast on EVMs and sent through postal ballots, amount to 1.81 percent. Senior citizens (above 85 years of age), persons with disabilities flagged in the electoral roll database, and those working in essential services are eligible for postal ballots. The overall voter turnout in the two-phase elections held earlier this month was 67.25 percent. This is the highest voter turnout ever in the state, where women voters outnumbered men at nearly 91,000 polling stations.