How Bihar’s women became kingmakers

THE tracking of women's participation in the Bihar Assembly elections in the last two decades reflects the politics of presence. Their rising voting percentage and role as kingmaker clearly defines that. The first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections saw 64.66 per cent voter turnout compared to 57.20 per cent in 2020. In 1962, barely three out of 10 women reached the polling booth. By 2020, the number had risen to six.

Election Commission data shows that women turnout leapt from 30 per cent to 59.6 per cent, thereby erasing the gender gap and then flipping it. In the last Assembly race, more women than men voted in 167 of the 243 seats. Parties now chase them the way they once chased caste blocs.

Records indicate that whenever women have outnumbered men in voting, it has benefited the NDA. Given the impact of SIR and anti-incumbency, it would be interesting to note whether this co-relation continues this time.

This transformation shows not only political awareness among women but also reflects their stake in the state's developmental process and demand for democratic rights.

The shift started in 2010, when for the first time, women's turnout crossed 54 per cent while men lagged at 51 per cent. Awareness did part of the work; policy did the rest.

In 2006, Nitish Kumar reserved half of the panchayat seats for women. In the semi-feudal agrarian society, where villages had rarely seen a woman chair a meeting, Bihar elected 4,535 women as mukhiyas (gram panchayat presidents) in 2015. Around 54 per cent of Bihar's 1.36 lakh elected village representatives were women by 2015 .

Power, once a men-only club, had been cracked. Political parties no longer consider women as peripheral voters echoing the male members' choice. Women are asserting themselves as a collective force and wanting that their demands be integrated into the mainstream politico-policy discourse.

Numbers underline the shift: Bihar female labour-force participation, which was a dismal 4.1 per cent in 2017-18, hit 30.5 per cent in 2023-24 -- a seven-fold increase. Rural women workforce led the charge at 33.5 per cent compared to the urban female work force of 16 per cent.

It seems that this factor has influenced the voter turnout in the 2025 Assembly elections — the rural seats of Muzaffarpur district have performed better than the urban seats in voter turnout. Out of the 11 Assembly segments, Muzaffarpur urban saw the lowest turnout of 59.26 per cent. The other constituencies, which are mostly rural or semi-urban, saw more than 69 per cent voter turnout. The highly urbanised Patna has barely crossed 36 per cent. With the rise in labour force participation, women have made their political presence felt independently of men, and strongly.

Meanwhile, female literacy rose from 33 per cent in 2001 to roughly 60 per cent by 2017 (NSS data). Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) fell from 130 per lakh births to 118 per lakh births. However, that the sex ratio at birth slipped from 921 in 2001 to 918 in 2011 (SRS 2017-18) is a reminder that the preference for a male child remains.

Two schemes introduced by the Nitish government in the last two decades have turbocharged the change. The first policy measure entailed the distribution of bicycles free of cost to every girl reaching Class IX.

A 2017 study in the American Economic Journal clocked a 32 per cent jump in secondary school enrolment of girls and 40 per cent shrink in gender gap. Six African nations have replicated the idea; the UN has stamped it as "best practice."

The second scheme is the Jeevika initiative, wherein 10.6 lakh self-help groups of women who began with pooling Rs 10 each to access credit collectively have driven change beyond economics in Bihar. Their success is recognised globally.

The recently launched Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana provides Rs 10,000 to over 20 lakh SHG members, extending financial empowerment, although the Opposition has attacked the scheme, considering the time of announcement and intention.

Every party now courts the 3.5 crore women with voter IDs. The NDA has dangled police job quotas — with 23.66 per cent constables being women in Bihar, it is India's highest — and the 2016 liquor ban. The Lancet credits that ban with stopping 2.1 million beatings of women by men, even as the NCRB logs show that crimes against women rose by 16.8 per cent in 2021.

The RJD has countered with a promise of Rs 2,500-monthly deposits and permanent SHG jobs with a

Rs 30,000 salary.

The reading is clear: ignore women, lose power. The 2020 election results prove it. Of the 119 constituencies where women outnumbered men in voters' list, the NDA won 72 (60.5 per cent) and the MGB won 42 (35.3 per cent). The CSDS-Lokniti post-poll survey found that among upper-caste, Kurmi, Koeri, Dalit and EBC voters, more women than men tilted towards Nitish Kumar. Young voters under 39 backed the NDA; older ones kept faith with the RJD. Caste still matters, but gender now slices across it.

However, the Assembly benches tell a different story. In 2020, only 26 of the 371 women candidates won — a seven per cent strike rate. This year, the count is worse: just 258 women fielded against 2,357 men. The BJP has fielded 13 women, the JD(U) 13, the RJD 23, Jan Suraaj 25 and the Congress five. But, symbolism still counts. Every woman who contests chips away at the idea that politics is a male sport.

As per the ECI data, the 2000 Assembly elections saw 62.57 per cent voting. It was the highest turnout in post-Independence Bihar, with 70.71 per cent men and 53.28 per cent women voting — a gap of almost 18 per cent. The Rabri Devi-led RJD formed the government.

In the 2005 elections, the voter turnout was 45.92 per cent but the gender gap had reduced sharply, with 47.02 per cent male voters and 44.62 female voters turning out. Nitish formed the government in alliance with BJP. After 2005, in all succeeding elections, women voters' turnout has surpassed that of men, and Nitish has managed to become CM. If this trend continues, Nitish may once again be lucky on November 14.

The bicycle that carried a girl to school/college now carries her to the polling booth. Democracy in Bihar has a new accent. Bihar's men migrate; its women who stay and stitch the state together with the needle of votes. In 2025, they will prick every manifesto that treats them as vote bank instead of builders of the new Bihar. Freebies buy mornings; jobs buy decades. Women know the difference. Gen Z women are prioritising their aspirations of education, job and safety in a thriving democracy, where all voices count equally.

Ravi Ranjan is a professor of political science, Zakir Husain Delhi College.