#BiharRally: Helicopters Fall Silent as Month-Long Aerial Campaign Ends
Aerial campaigns worth ₹40 crore end in Bihar elections.
The Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 concluded with a month-long aerial offensive, as political parties deployed helicopters and chartered aircraft to navigate the state’s vast and often inaccessible 243 constituencies. Polling ended on November 10, 2025, and the sudden cessation of flights has restored calm to Bihar’s airspace, with aviation hubs in Patna, Gaya, and Darbhanga reporting an abrupt halt in political charters that had sustained a frenzied pace throughout the campaign.
Financial estimates reveal that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United), and allies, allocated approximately ₹30 crore solely for helicopter operations and private aircraft. This expenditure facilitated rapid mobility for key figures such as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Union Minister Chirag Paswan, and BJP state president Samrat Choudhary, enabling them to address up to five rallies daily across flood-affected districts like Kosi, Mithilanchal, and Seemanchal, where road infrastructure remains unreliable during the post-monsoon season.
The Opposition Mahagathbandhan—led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Indian National Congress, and Left parties—invested around ₹10 crore in aerial logistics. Former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan utilised these flights to project a unified front against the NDA, emphasising youth unemployment, migrant worker crises, and agricultural policy failures in public addresses spanning urban centres and rural heartlands alike.
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Aviation operators confirm that over 300 sorties were conducted during the campaign, with peak activity recorded between October 15 and November 8. With polling complete, all political flight bookings have been cancelled, and aircraft have either returned to base or been reassigned to commercial routes. The Election Commission of India continues to scrutinise expenditure declarations, as the ₹40 lakh per-candidate ceiling applies strictly to individual filings, while party-level aerial costs are tracked under central campaign accounts to ensure adherence to transparency norms.
As Bihar enters a phase of electoral silence ahead of counting, the grounding of campaign aircraft symbolises the transition from high-decibel mobilisation to administrative consolidation. The strategic use of air travel highlights the growing financial and logistical sophistication of Indian elections, where resource allocation increasingly determines outreach efficacy in geographically challenging states.
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