Renu Devi (left), Maithili Thakur (centre) and Savitri Devi
Credit: PTI, MyNeta
Women had a key role in the outcome of the Bihar Assembly elections 2025, with the voter demographic giving a massive boost to the NDA with support for the JD(U).
Even though 42 lakh more men were registered on the electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision, 4 lakh more women voted in the elections. (The provisional turnout for women was 71.6% and for men, it was 62.8%).
Why was the woman factor important?
The Nitish Kumar government implemented the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, distributing Rs 10,000 to eligible women across the State. This had made women voters feel important by the ruling coalition, in line with Kumar’s strategy of reaching out to them through welfare measures and policies ever since he came to power in 2005.
How did women candidates fare?
In the 2025 Assembly elections, 258 women candidates contested as opposed to 2,357 male candidates. At 26, BSP was party with most women candidates, closely followed by Jan Suraaj Party at 25. Among the NDA, the BJP and the JD(U) fielded 13 women each, while the LJP had six women candidates.
At the time of publishing, as many as 16 women candidates across parties had been elected to the Bihar Assembly. They include at least seven from the BJP, five from the JD(U), two from the LJP and one each from RJD and HAM(S).