What Is Bihar’s Assembly Election About?

Media Coverage Focuses on Party Clashes, Not Governance Reform

November 6, 2025

The 2025 assembly election in Bihar is being widely portrayed in the media as a face-off between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Mahagathbandhan (MGB), with little mention of the state’s long-standing governance failures.

The polling began on November 6 to fill 243 seats of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, with the next phase scheduled for November 11 and counting on November 14.

Both coalitions have focused their manifestos on jobs, infrastructure and welfare promises. The NDA offers industrial parks and job creation, while the MGB pledges government jobs and land for economically backward classes. Voter turnout in the first phase has already reached a strong 64.46 percent. Even so, the deeper governance issues behind Bihar’s decades of underdevelopment receive minimal attention.

Let’s look at those development and governance issues.

Bihar’s per capita Gross State Domestic Product in 2023–24 was about 66,828 rupees. In simple terms, this is the average value of goods and services produced per person in the state during the year. It shows how much income the state’s economy generates for each resident. The figure is less than one-third of the national average of about 215,000 (2.15 lakh) rupees, which shows how far Bihar’s economy lags behind the rest of India. This gap means that people in Bihar, on average, live with far fewer economic opportunities and weaker state resources than most Indians.

One of the main reasons for this stagnation is the absence of industrial development. As of 2022–23, manufacturing contributed only 6.9 percent to Bihar’s overall economy. This indicates that the state has not developed a strong base of industries, production units or formal employment opportunities in the industrial sector. Most of the workforce remains concentrated in agriculture or informal jobs, with limited upward mobility.

The economic weakness is uneven across the state. Urban centres like Patna have higher levels of income and better infrastructure. In contrast, large parts of northern Bihar experience repeated flooding, inadequate public services and very little private investment. These conditions slow down development and prevent any meaningful reduction in regional inequality. People living in these districts are not only poorer, but they also have less access to healthcare, education and employment.

On the fiscal front, Bihar spends a large proportion of its economic resources on public services. In 2021–22, both its revenue expenditure and capital expenditure as a share of state income were above the national median. However, this spending depends heavily on funds received from the central government. The state’s own revenue generation is limited, and its public debt remains high. Without faster economic growth or tighter control of spending, the debt is unlikely to reduce.

This combination of weak economic output, limited industrial growth, high dependence on external funds and uneven development has serious consequences. Bihar continues to face persistent failures in public service delivery. The investment environment remains poor, and large numbers of people are forced to migrate to other states in search of work. The state’s inability to expand its economic base and improve governance lies at the heart of its long-term underdevelopment.

Why then do these issues vanish from the election narrative? Because the campaign is driven by immediate political signalling, including caste alignments, patronage promises and symbolic welfare schemes, rather than any focus on state capacity, institutional reform or public service improvement. The media enables this focus, giving little space to questions of governance.

For example, ahead of the first phase of polling, the NDA government transferred 10,000 rupees each to over 7.5 million women under the Lakhpati Didi scheme, a move widely seen as an attempt to boost electoral support rather than a long-term plan for women’s economic empowerment. This announcement received far more attention in campaign speeches and media coverage than any discussion on how the state plans to address structural issues such as teacher vacancies, district-level health gaps or the lack of local government capacity.

Caste has shaped elections in Bihar for generations. As early as the 1930s, caste groups began organising politically, such as through the Triveni Sangh formed by Yadavs, Kurmis and Koeris to challenge upper-caste dominance. Since the 1990s, backward caste leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav brought caste politics firmly into the centre of electoral life, using it to mobilise large sections of the population that had long been excluded from power.

Today, caste continues to drive party strategies. Around 63 percent of Bihar’s population belongs to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Castes, while upper castes make up about 15 percent. Parties still compete by appealing to specific caste groups, not by addressing how caste inequality affects access to jobs, education and public services. As a result, caste remains a tool for winning elections, but not a subject for real reform.

So what must happen for Bihar to break this repeated cycle of short-term giveaways during elections followed by continued neglect of institutional reform and basic public services? The state cannot afford to treat governance as an afterthought once votes are secured. Each election that centres on symbolism instead of substance delays serious action on education, healthcare, employment and infrastructure.

The election discourse and media coverage need to move from “which party will win” to what will the winning party do to strengthen institutions, improve service delivery and reduce regional inequality. Civil society and media must hold governments accountable not just for seat‑counts but for improving education outcomes, health‑system readiness and infrastructure maintenance. Without that shift, the election will again elect a new government with old promises and little systemic change.

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