The word ‘jungle raaj’ is among the most used words in Bihar elections. But a clean slate in the state assembly is very unlikely as political parties across the spectrum continue to field tainted contestants
despite repeated warnings from the courts.
In the 2025 Bihar assembly election, every one in three candidates is facing criminal charges and every two out of three constituencies are marked as “red alert”, leaving the voters with slim chances of choosing a clean candidate.
As per the reports from the election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), for the 243 member Bihar assembly, a total of 2,616 candidates are in the fray. Poll affidavits of at least 2,600 of these were analysed.
The analysis revealed that at least 838 candidates (32 per cent) have declared criminal cases – nearly 1 in 3 contestants have cases registered against them. At least 695 candidates (27 per cent) – one in every four – are facing serious criminal cases — murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women and/or corruption.
Among those facing serious charges are 52 candidates booked for murder and 165 for attempt to murder; 94 face cases related to crimes against women, including five accused of rape.
The situation looks more grim with at least 67 per cent of seats – 164 out of 243 – termed as the red alert constituencies – where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
In its reports, the ADR pointed out that the directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the Bihar Assembly Elections as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 32 per cent candidates with criminal cases in each of the two phases.
The analysis also highlighted that all major parties contesting in Bihar Elections have given tickets from 20 per cent to 100 per cent candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves.
The Supreme Court in its February 2020 order had specifically instructed political parties to give reasons for such selection and why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates.
The report also pointed out that political parties gave unfounded and baseless reasons like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated to field candidates facing cases.
“This data clearly shows that political parties have no interest in reforming the electoral system and our democracy will continue to suffer at the hands of lawbreakers who become lawmakers,” it said.
Money Power
Out of the 2,600 candidates analysed, the ADR pointed that 1,081 candidates (42 per cent) are crorepatis – meaning about two in every five candidates have wealth over Rs 1 crore.
The report pointed out that all major political parties in Bihar have fielded crorepatis in the range of 14 per cent to 100 per cent candidates. The average asset value of candidates stands at around Rs 3.35 crore, underscoring the dominance of money in Bihar’s electoral field.
“This close and alarming nexus between money power and muscle power has got so ingrained in our electoral system that the citizens are left hostage to the current situation. Money and muscle power hurt the principles of ‘free and fair elections’, ‘participatory democracy’ and ‘level playing field’. The present circumstances therefore demand an extensive deliberation by the voters so that sanctity of elections is not ridiculed by tenacious entry of tainted candidates and candidates with abnormal multiplication of assets,” the report added.
The two-phase Bihar assembly polls will start from Thursday – November 6 – when 121 assemblies will go for polls. The second phase covering 122 seats will go for polls on November 11 before counting of votes on November 14.
