Morning Digest: Voting in Bihar polls begins today with Phase 1; Centre’s governance guidelines for AI call for trust and safety, and more

First phase of Bihar polls on November 6 will decide the fate of big leaders and small parties

Over 3.75 crore voters in Bihar will cast their ballots in the first phase of the Assembly election on Thursday (November 6, 2025), covering 121 of the State’s 243 constituencies. This phase is particularly significant for the Opposition Mahagatbandhan, which had secured 63 of these seats in the 2020 election. The ruling BJP and Janata Dal (United) together had won 55.

SIR 2025: Election Commission’s transparency claim challenged in Supreme Court

The run-up to the first phase of polling in Bihar on November 6 witnessed the Election Commission of India (ECI) furiously defend the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the Supreme Court, even as petitioners questioned the poll body’s claim that the current exercise is a chip off the “transparent” 2003 intensive revision of the State’s electoral rolls.

India’s new AI governance guidelines push hands-off approach