Does India catch a cold when Patna sneezes?

Women empowerment schemes in Bihar under Nitish Kumar are inter-generational, going back to 2005.

- HARDAYAL SINGH

MARGJEET SINHA

Bihar is a paradox: Unless he migrates from Bihar, an average Bihari earns only Rs 66,208 a year—less than a third of what an average Indian earns (Rs 205,324, currently).

Even so, political trends in Bihar—the fight against the Emergency for instance—are often a harbinger of what follows later in other states.

And so it seems may be the case in the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar: the NDA overcame a 20-year antiincumbency to win an overwhelming mandate—202 out of 243 seats (BJP 89 seats; JDU 85, LJP 19). What was even more significant than the margin of this win were certain force multipliers that enabled this runaway victory.

It was not as if people did not vote for the Opposition. The decline in Opposition vote shares was insignificant—from 23.11% to 23% in the case of the RJD and from 9.48% to 8.71% in the case of the Congress. What then explains the decline in their seats—from 75 to 25 in the case of the RJD, and 19 to 6 in the case of the Congress? One factor was surely the increase in the overall turnout. This jumped from 57.29% to 67.13%, thanks largely to the increase in the number of women voters.

This figure increased from 59.61% in 2020 to 71.60% in 2025.

Rs 10,000 was transferred to 1 crore women, just before the Model Code of Conduct came into force.