The 18th Bihar Assembly has been elected with the NDA securing an impressive 202 seats out of 243. According to an analysis of election affidavits and data from the Association of Democratic Reforms, the new House is older and significantly wealthier than its predecessor. While 111 MLAs won re-election, the average age of members rose slightly from 52 to 53 years. Notably, the collective wealth of MLAs more than doubled, with average assets jumping from Rs 4.32 crore to Rs 9.02 crore. Women's representation improved modestly, with 29 women MLAs compared to 26 previously, though this remains far below male representation. Positively, the number of MLAs facing criminal cases declined from 163 to 130, marking the lowest proportion since 2010. Despite these changes, serious concerns remain regarding representation and accountability in Bihar's legislative body.
Women Representation and Voter Turnout Trends
Despite record-breaking female voter turnout of 71.78%, women's representation in the Assembly increased by only three seats to 29 MLAs. Out of these, 26 belong to NDA parties and three to RJD. The BJP fielded 13 women candidates with 10 winning, while JD(U) also saw 10 out of 13 women candidates victorious. Notable winners include Maithili Thakur, a 25-year-old Bhojpuri singer who became the youngest MLA. The RJD fielded 24 women but only three won. Women voters exceeded male turnout by 8.8 percentage points, the largest gap ever recorded. However, women's legislative representation has steadily declined since 2010 when 34 women were elected, dropping to 28 in 2015 and 26 in 2020.
Wealth and Criminal Cases Among Elected Members
The new Assembly is notably wealthier, with average MLA assets more than doubling to Rs 9.02 crore from Rs 4.32 crore previously. The richest MLA is BJP's Kumar Pranay from Munger, whose assets total Rs 170.82 crore. Among parties, RLM has the wealthiest MLAs averaging Rs 22.94 crore, followed by LJP(RV) at Rs 13.67 crore. On a positive note, MLAs with pending criminal cases dropped from 163 to 130, representing 53% of the House. However, 102 MLAs still face serious charges including murder and crimes against women. BJP has 54 MLAs with pending cases, followed by JD(U) with 31. JD(U)'s Anant Kumar Singh leads with 28 pending criminal cases.
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