Everyone is ahead in getting the votes of half the population in Bihar, why is everyone lagging behind in giving tickets in the elections?
Bihar election 2025: Everyone is ahead in getting the votes of half the population in Bihar, why is everyone lagging behind in giving tickets in the elections?
Nitish Kumar vs. Tejashwi Yadav: Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana popularized the trend of garnering women’s votes in elections. The Ladli Behna Yojana’s magic was also seen in Maharashtra. In Delhi, the BJP and AAP were locked in a fierce battle for control of the female vote bank. Now, the battle is unfolding in Bihar.
All political parties are betting on the female vote in the Bihar Assembly elections. To appease women, both sides, whether it’s the Grand Alliance or the NDA, are rolling out schemes. Just before the election dates were announced, the Bihar government made the biggest move by initiating a transfer of ₹10,000 to every woman’s account under the Chief Minister’s Employment Scheme. Under the Chief Minister’s Women’s Employment Scheme, the government itself has stated that ₹10,000 each has been transferred to the bank accounts of 12.5 million women.
In response to the Chief Minister’s Women’s Employment Scheme, the Grand Alliance’s Chief Ministerial candidate, Tejashwi Yadav, announced a major plan to make Jeevika Didis permanent government employees with a monthly salary of ₹30,000, and also promised a one-time transfer of ₹30,000 to women’s accounts under the Mai Behen Yojana before the first phase of voting. Political parties’ concern for women in the Bihar elections isn’t a fluke. The number of women voters in the state has increased by 1.5 million in the past year alone.
Nitish Kumar has a good image among women.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s image among women in Bihar is considered quite good. From prohibition to 35% reservation for women in police recruitment, 50% reservation in panchayats and local bodies, and low-interest loans for Jeevika Didis, legal equal rights to inheritance of a father’s property, and increased allowances for Asha and Mamata workers, Nitish has been successful in courting the female vote bank. This time, Tejashwi has had to find a counter to this.
Consider the similar argument of all these political parties: women’s self-reliance and empowerment. However, the parties’ stance on political participation can be understood through statistics. Let’s take a look at how many women have been given tickets by each political party in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. In Bihar, 1,314 candidates are contesting in the first phase of voting, while 1,302 are contesting in the second. This means a total of 2,616 candidates are contesting. Of these, 2,357 are men, while 258 are women.
How many women candidates from which party
Speaking of different political parties, in this assembly election, the BJP fielded 13 women candidates, the Congress 5, the JDU 13, the RJD 23, the Jan Suraj 25, and the Bahujan Samaj Party 26. In the 2020 assembly elections, a total of 370 women candidates contested, of whom 26 were elected as MLAs. In the 2015 assembly elections, a total of 272 women candidates received tickets. Of these, the BJP fielded 14, the RJD 10, the JDU 10, the Congress 5, the HAM (S) 4, the LJP 4, the CPI 2, the CPIM 3, and the CPI (ML) 7.
No focus on participation in politics
Statistics show that political parties are announcing more welfare schemes than ever before to empower women, but in the name of women’s direct participation in politics, they begin to calculate victory and defeat. If women are a vote bank, why is the number of women candidates representing that vote bank so low? Why is the number of women candidates declining?
In 2020, the JDU was the leading party in fielding the most women candidates, with 22, but in 2025, this figure has dropped to 13. While the RJD has a better approach than the JDU in terms of giving tickets to women, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party, which is contesting elections for the first time, has sent a different message by fielding the most women candidates this year, with 25.
The percentage of women voting increased
It’s noteworthy that women’s voting percentages have increased over time. In Bihar alone, the number of women voters has steadily increased in the last five elections. In the 2005 elections, 49.95 percent of men voted, compared to 42.52 percent of women. However, in the 2010 elections, women’s voting percentage increased relative to men’s. Women voted 54.49 percent, while men voted 51.12 percent.
Subsequently, in 2015 and 2020, women outperformed men. This data reflects the Nitish Kumar government’s popularity among women. If a government is to be formed, it will have to capitalize on the female vote. The Grand Alliance also understood this, and the NDA further expanded its reach.
