By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Even as Bihar is going to poll on Tuesday November 11, 2025 for the second and final phase, political parties and alliances have not yet a clue of the possible outcome. They only guess that the women voters in Bihar hold the key to government formation in the state. In the battle royal, the chief contestant political alliances – NDA and MGB – have made several promises to women, which they have all along comparing and weighing on their content and trustworthiness.
Altogether 122 Legislative Assembly seats in the second phase are going to poll while 121 seats have already polled in the first phase on November 6. Women have been seen playing significant role in the first phase but no political alliance is sure to have got their overwhelming support making the electoral battle a close fight between the two. It is significant since women have been playing decisive roles across the country in the recent past impacting the outcome of state elections from Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand. In every state, women were promised and given lot of freebies just before election.
In Bihar also, women are playing significant role. CM Nitish Kumar hopes that he will get majority of women’s votes because of his certain policies, such as ban on liquor to the more recent CM Women’s Employment Scheme, launched just before the election. The NDA manifesto promises Empowerment of women and making them rich and through them a Developed Bihar.
The manifesto talked about self-reliance for women for making them rich, for which it promised upto Rs2 lakh as financial assistance under Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojna. It promised to make 1 crore women Lakhpati Didi, and to make identified women entrepreneur crorepati, under Crorepati Mission.
Nitish Kumar led government had increased social security pension from paltry Rs400 per month to Rs1100 per month just before the election, and many of the beneficiaries are women.
As against these, MGB (INDIA bloc) has also promised several financial and other benefits to women. It addressed the long standing issue of Jivika Didis (community mobilisers) who have been demanding recognition for their service and giving them status of government employees. INDIA bloc has promised them not only the status of government employee but also a salary of Rs30,000 per month.
MGB promised that under the social security pension, the old and the widows will be given economic assistance of Rs1500 per month, which will be increased by Rs200 every year. Under the Mai-Bahin Maan Yojna, it promised that the women will be given Rs2,500 per month from December 1, 2025 as economic assistance, that is Rs30,000 yearly. Mothers will be provided with house, foodgrains, and income, while daughters will be given economic benefits, education and training.
While women voters are weighing pros and cons of the NDA’s current schemes and promises, especially in the backdrop of deadly debt trap in which women are finding themselves, the MGB manifesto has promised a legislation to regulate the interest rates charged by microfinance companies. Women will be protected from exploitation by the agents of the companies during loan recovery, the MGB has promised.
Women are talking about Mukhya Mantri Mahila Rojgar Yojna under which women are promise loans to start their own business as part of women empowerment, but their past experience has been very bad. Many women who had taken loans earlier, find themselves in debt trap which they are unable to repay.
It should be recalled that an RBI-appointed self-regulator for the microfinance sector, Sa-Dhan has said in its report that Bihar alone accounted for nearly 15 per cent of the industry portfolio, making it the single largest State portfolio in the country. As of March 2025, outstanding microfinance loan in Bihar stood at Rs 57,712 crore.
Apart from the indebtedness, women have also been facing numerous hurdles in getting loan, due to which many of them were not happy with the present government. Many women who had taken loan are being unduly pressurised to repay their loan. It is in this backdrop NDA’s old schemes and new promises have considerably lost their attraction.
Many women believe that NDA’s schemes and promises are much inferior to the promises given by MGB. They have promised Rs 2500 per month to women of Bihar along with several other schemes to uplift and empower women.
What really matters in the present scenario is the trustworthiness of the political alliances, their promises, and their capacity of implementing the promised schemes. Every woman has her own convictions regarding these, which has already influenced their voting in the first phase, and is sure to influence voting in the second phase.
Women’s votes in Bihar are significant, because their voting percentage has been increasing compared to men. In the first phase the voter turnout was about 65.08 per cent, and reports have suggested that “women out-voted men” in most of the constituencies, though the precise percentage of women votes are yet to be revealed. Some reports suggested that in many polling stations and in several districts, women turnout was over 75 per cent. If this pattern is continued in the second phase also, women’s votes are going to be decisive in election outcome influencing government formation in Bihar. (IPA Service)
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