By Kavita Mistry 
In all, according to provisional data released by the ECI, Bihar this assembly polls saw a record-breaking participation of women voters—71.6 percent—the highest since 1962, when the men’s and women’s voter turnouts seem to have first been taken into account.
This is the fourth time that women’s poll participation percentage in an election has surpassed men’s in Bihar. The trend—according to ECI data—began in 2010, when 54.49 percent of eligible women voters cast their ballots, compared to 51.12 percent of the eligible men.
Similarly, 60.48 percent of women voters participated in the 2015 elections, compared to 53.32 percent of men voters. In 2020, 59.69 percent of women voters participated, compared to 54.45 percent of men voters.
In absolute numbers as well, 2.51 crore women came out to vote, as compared to 2.47 crore men—outnumbering men by 4.34 lakh votes. In comparison to 2.08 crore women voters in 2020, 2025 elections saw a 43 lakh increase in women voters. This increase in votes is also more than the increase in male voter participation. There was an upshoot of 36 lakh votes cast by men in 2025, with 2.11 crore male voter participation in 2020 as compared to 2.47 crore men coming out to vote in 2025.
Political commentator and psephologist Sanjay Kumar calls it a “remarkable shift in Indian politics”, saying, “We see this happening in many states, but a nine percentage point gap between men and women turnout is something we have not witnessed in the past—either in Bihar or in any other state.”
Some experts call it an “empowerment story”. The state government’s Rs 10,000 benefits to women might have been a contributing factor. Others call it a statistical outcome of the Bihar SIR by the ECI.
But what does this increase in voter turnout mean for the upcoming results? Kumar recalls a study on what high voter turnout might mean for parties in the fray.
He points out that an analysis of nearly 332 assembly elections up to 2020 shows an increase in voter percentage in 188 of these polls. In these 188 polls, the incumbent government was re-elected 89 times.
A dip in voter percentage was logged in 144 Bihar assembly polls. In these, the incumbent government was re-elected 56 times.
Kumar, therefore, concludes that there isn’t a “strong connection” between voter turnout and election results.
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Women as a constituency
The MMRY scheme—an initiative of the NDA government in Bihar—was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in late September. Under the scheme, Rs 10,000 was transferred to the bank accounts of 75 lakh women.
Over 1.41 crore women have received Rs 10,000 each under the scheme since then, according to Nitish Kumar.
The direct cash benefit mirrors similar cash transfers promised to women in other states, including Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi.
The direct cash benefit mirrors similar cash transfers promised to women in other states, including Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi.
The promise in Bihar, though, is higher. The women, who find good employment with this amount, have been promised an additional Rs two lakh.
With women making up nearly half of Bihar’s electorate, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s policies have often revolved around this constituency. From reserving 35 percent of government jobs for them to now transferring a Rs 10,000 corpus to each, women have been the beneficiaries of many of his initiatives.
Kumar asserts that the Rs 10,000 benefit, including other welfare schemes, would have certainly made a difference to the women’s electoral participation.
“If you look at why we have witnessed higher women turnout in Indian elections during the last 10 to 15 years in many states, it is largely because most governments in power are coming out with welfare schemes for particular communities. Now, a larger number of political parties actually look at women as a constituency. So, welfare schemes aimed at the welfare of women or girl children have been a prominent feature of many state governments,” he told ThePrint.
A historical trend
For Rahul Verma, a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, three factors seem to have contributed to the high female voter participation.
And the Rs 10,000 benefit is at the bottom of the list.
Verma points out that women’s turnout in Bihar has been high in the past three elections, as well. He calls it a “historical trend”.
“It also could be an empowerment story, with women getting education over time. Across the country, women’s turnout has been rising, and the gender gap in voter turnout has been reducing. So it’s a part of a larger trend,” Verma tells ThePrint.
The second factor on his list is the Bihar SIR exercise. The deletion of voters— those found dead or not found at their registered addresses, or those who permanently shifted—was reportedly higher among women than men.
“It is also that women are more likely to move from one place to another due to marriage. So the higher number of deletions of women voters means that the denominator for women voters got reduced, so it could simply be a statistical artefact,” he asserts.
In other words, he explains, the high voter turnout among women could mean that women who were not voting in previous elections had their names deleted during SIR, and hence, the voter percentage increased.
The benefit of Rs 10,000, he says, would have the “least contribution” on turnout.
An empowerment story
The high female participation cannot be viewed in isolation in Bihar’s case, experts assert. They highlight Bihar women’s gradually increasing participation in society, and their slowly growing stature.
Additionally, Kumar highlights the impact of the government’s approval of the 50 percent reservations for women in local body elections. He points out that initially, women contested elections but only as proxies for the male candidates. But in the past few years, women have become “politically conscious and politically interested”.
In many districts now, he says, the number of women elected in local body elections often surpasses 50 percent, as women are also elected in non-reserved seats.
Social media, it says, has been another equalising factor. “You don’t require literacy to get information on social media,” he says, pointing out the ease of access to information in the current times.
“This has also contributed to women becoming more aware. So, if I have to relate one thing to a very high turnout of women, it is awareness. Political awareness. And, political awareness has come from the provision of reservations in the local body, elections, social media, etc,” he asserts.
Professor Tanvir Aeijaz, an associate professor in the Delhi University’s political science department, asserts that women are now considered a separate constituency by Bihar’s political parties.
“JD(U)’s policies have targeted women for a long time now, and whenever there has been a higher voter percentage of women in Bihar, it usually becomes advantageous for JD(U). That is the reason why JD(U) thought about giving Rs 10,000 to women and Jeevika didis,” he says.
“Just before the elections, if you receive money, you think that you are empowered and can choose the government. When women are politically empowered, they also find a voice within their families. So, it becomes not just political empowerment, but also social empowerment and economic empowerment,” he adds.
This, Aeijaz says, is also the reason behind the Mahagathbandhan’s promised permanent jobs and Rs 30,000 monthly salaries to the ‘Jeevika didis’, once it is voted to power in Bihar.
Clean rolls & a new entrant
The clean electoral rolls are also contributing to the overall high voter turnout of 66.91 percent.
The final list of SIR in Bihar included 7.4 crore voters, fewer than the earlier 7.89 crore. The draft list eliminated 65 lakh voters, of which 22 lakh were marked dead, 36 lakh were shown as not living at the addresses they registered with the ECI, and seven lakh individuals had permanently shifted to new locations. The final list another 3.66 lakh voters were struck off as “ineligible”.
Kumar points out a voter turnout increase at times when a new party enters politics. In Bihar’s case, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) is the newest entrant in Bihar politics.
Bihar, he points out, has traditionally witnessed a bipolarity. The contest has always been between the Mahagathbandhan and the NDA.
“If you look at the votes polled by the two alliances over a period of time, they have polled roughly in the range of 73-74 percent to 75 percent votes. So, nearly 25-27 percent of the voters in Bihar have actually voted for other regional parties and Independents. I suspect these are voters who are slightly disenchanted, and they didn’t like either of the two choices offered by the political system,” he explains.
“These voters may have got more enthused this time because of a new player in politics, and Prashant Kishore and his party were promising new things for the people of Bihar, at least, promising that he would bring about big change in Bihar,” he adds.
Kumar says these disenchanted voters might have participated this year in significantly higher numbers than in the past.
Caste mobilisation & Chhath
This year, the elections were close to Chhath Pooja, the state’s most prominent festival. Millions travel back home for the festival every year.
The festival was celebrated from 25 to 28 October, days before the polls. Phase 1 was scheduled for 4 November, and phase 2 for 11 November.
“Because elections just happened, right after Chhath, people might have stayed back,” Verma says.
Kumar also chips in about a micro-level caste mobilisation factor, which might have enthused voters of the same caste to participate.
“Look at the number of small regional parties with a caste support base. There is the Hindustan Awam Morcha, Vikassheel Insaan Party, and the Indian Inclusive Party which mobilises votes of Tati-Tatwa and Pan Communities. So that seems to have worked in favour of mobilising at least voters of their own caste-community. When they see a leader from their own caste and community rising, there may have been more enthusiasm among those voters to turn out to vote,” he tells ThePrint.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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