Women's vote decisive in Bihar, but only 12% winners are women -Governance Now

Women's vote decisive in Bihar, but only 12% winners are women

ADR Analysis: 130(53%) winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves

GN Bureau | November 15, 2025

#Gender #Elections #Politics #Bihar

(Photo: Governance Now)

The stunning victory of the NDA in the Bihar assembly elections is largely credited to the women voters who registered a far higher turnout than men, but out of the 243 winning candidates analysed, only 29 (12%) winning candidates are women. Still, this is an improvement over 2020, when out of 241 MLAs analysed, 26 (11%) MLAs were women.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 243 winning candidates in the Bihar 2025 Assembly Elections, and found that 130 (53%) winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. Out of 241 MLAs analysed during the 2020 polls, 163 (68%) MLAs had declared criminal cases against themselves.

The full analysis can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/Winners-Report-Bihar-2025

As many as 102 (42%) winners have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. For 2020, the respective numbers were 123 (51%). Six winning candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves and 19 winning candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves. Nine winning candidates have declared cases related to crime against women.

Party Wise Winning Candidates with Criminal Cases:
54 (61%) out of 89 winning candidates from BJP, 31(36%) out of 85 winning candidates from JD(U), 18 (72%) out of 25 winning candidates from RJD, 11(58%) out of 19 winning candidates from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), 4 (67%) out of 6 winning candidates from INC, 5(100%) out of 5 winning candidates from AIMIM, 1(20%) out of 5 winning candidates from HAM(S), 1(25%) out of 4 winning candidates from Rashtriya Lok Morcha, 2(100%) out of 2 winning candidates from CPI(ML)(L), 1(100%) out of 1 winning candidate from CPI(M), 1(100%) out of 1 winning candidate from Indian Inclusive Party and 1 (100%) out of 1 winning candidate from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Financial Background:
218 (90%) winners are crorepatis. (2020: 194 or 81%)
Party-wise crorepati winning candidates:
78(92%) out of 85 winning candidates from JD(U), 77(87%) out of 89 winning candidates from BJP, 24 (96%) out of 25 winning candidates from RJD, 16(84%) out of 19 winning candidates from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), 6(100%) out of 6 Winning candidates from INC, 5(100%) out of 5 Winning candidates from AIMIM, 4(80%) out of 5 Winning candidates from HAM(S), 4(100%) out of 4 Winning candidates from Rashtriya Lok Morcha, 1(100%) out of 1 Winning candidate from CPI(M), 1(100%) out of 1 Winning candidate from Indian Inclusive Party, 1(100%) out of 1 Winning candidate from BSP and 1(50%) out of 2 winning candidates from CPI(ML)(L) have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

Education:
84(35%) winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass while 147 (60%) winning candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above. 5 winning candidates are Diploma holders and 7 winning candidates have declared their education just literate.

Age:
38(16%) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 40 years while 143 (59%) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 41 and 60 years. There are 62 (26%) winning candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years.

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