Press Release: Analysis of Election Expenditure statements of MLAs from the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025

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Press Release

Date: February 03, 2026

Dear Friends,

According to Section 78 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, every contesting candidate has to lodge a true copy of his election expenses within 30 days from the date of declaration of result of election, with the District Election Officer in all States and Union Territories. Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch have analysed 240 out of 243 election expenditure statements submitted after the Bihar Assembly Election 2025 for newly elected MLAs. The expenditure limit for the MLAs during the Bihar Assembly elections was Rs. 40 lakhs. These election expense documents include details of expenses on public meetings and processions, campaigning through electronic and print media, expense on campaign workers, expense on vehicles used, expense on virtual campaign, expense on publishing of declaration regarding criminal cases and expense on campaign materials.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/Analysis_of_Election_Expenditure_Statements_of_MLAs_Bihar_Assembly_2025

Recommendations:

1. Each Winner is required to file his election expenditure statement within 30 days of the results of the elections, the deadline in case of the Bihar Assembly Elections being the 14^th December 2025. However, it was observed that the election expenditure statements of the Winners were not uploaded on the CEO/DEO’s website till significantly after the deadline. It is recommended that the Abstract Expenditure Statement (Annexure E2) of the MLAs is uploaded on the website of the CEO within 72 hours of the receipt of the statement.

2. The deadline for filing an election petition against any Winner is 45 days after the declaration of the results. Generally, MLAs submit their election expenditure statements towards the end of the 30 days given for submission of the statements. This leaves 15 days for any common citizen to file an election petition against any Winner. The deadline for filing an election petition should be increased in order to give the citizens time to scrutinize the election expenditure statements of the MLAs and gather the relevant documents/proof etc. for the election petition.

3. As has been instated in the filing of affidavits during the elections, the MLAs should not be allowed to keep any field blank on the Abstract Election Expenditure statement (Annexure E2) and Schedule 1 to 11. The statements must be filled in a legible format and overwriting of amounts in the statement should be discouraged.

Summary and Highlights of Election Expenses of MLAs from the Bihar Assembly 2025 Elections

1. Less than 61% of the Limit: The candidate expenditure limit for Bihar assembly elections 2025 was Rs 40 lakhs. Out of 240 MLAs analysed, 100 (42%) MLAs have declared election expenses less than 61% of the expense limit in their constituency.

2. Average Election Expenses: Based on the election expense declarations of 240 MLAs from Bihar Assembly, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections is Rs 24.33 lakhs, which is 61% of the expense limit.

3. Party-wise Average Election Expenses: The party wise average election expenses shows that the average spending for 88 MLAs from BJP is Rs.27.36 lakhs (68.4% of the expense limit). For 84 MLAs from JD(U), the average election expenditure is Rs.25.53 lakhs (63.8% of the expense limit), for 24 MLAs from RJD, the average election expenditure is Rs.19.57 lakhs (48.9% of the expense limit), for 19 MLAs from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), the average election expenditure is Rs.19.60 lakhs (49% of the expense limit), for 6 MLAs from INC, the average election expenditure is Rs.13.00 lakhs (32.5% of the expense limit), for 5 MLAs from Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), the average election expenditure is Rs.16.89 lakhs (42.2% of the expense limit), for 5 MLAs from All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the average election expenditure is Rs.17.37 lakhs (43.4% of the expense limit), for 4 MLAs from Rashtriya Lok Morcha, the average election expenditure is Rs.24.84 lakhs (62.1% of the expense limit), for 2 MLAs from CPI(ML)(L), the average election expenditure is Rs.17.05 lakhs (42.6% of the expense limit), for 1 MLA from CPI(M), the average election expenditure is Rs.21.39 lakhs (53.5% of the expense limit), for 1 MLA from the Indian Inclusive Party, the election expenditure is Rs.23.74 lakhs (59.4% of the expense limit), and 1 BSP MLA has spent Rs.18.34 lakhs (45.9% of the expense limit).

Figure: Party-wise Average Election Expenses (Rs.in lakhs)

4. Top 3 MLAs with highest Election Expenses: The details of top 3 MLAs who have declared highest election expenses are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Expense Limit (Rs.)	Total expenses incurred (Rs.)	% of limit reached
1	Alok Kumar Mehta	Samastipur	Ujiarpur	RJD	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	36,54,880 36 Lacs+	91%
2	Radha Charan Sah	Bhojpur	Sandesh	JD(U)	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	36,12,954 36 Lacs+	90%
3	Sammridh Varma	Paschim Champaran	Sikta	JD(U)	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	35,87,522 35 Lacs+	90%

Table: Top 3 MLAs with highest election expenditure

5. MLAs with lowest Election Expenses: The details of 3 MLAs who have declared lowest election expenses are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Expense Limit (Rs.)	Total expenses incurred (Rs.)	% of limit reached
1	Prof. Nagendra Raut	Sitamarhi	Sursand	JD(U)	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	**79,470 79 Thou+	2%
2	Md Sarwar Alam	Kishanganj	Kochadhaman	All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	**6,86,375 6 Lacs+	17%
3	Arun Kumar S/O Satrughan Sao	Patna	Bakhtiarpur	Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	7,65,178 7 Lacs+	19%

Table: 3 MLAs with lowest election expenditure

**on total expenses value indicates that the MLA has not provided the total in their expenditure affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

6. Expense on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions with Star Campaigners (other than those for general party propaganda): Out of the 240 MLAs analyzed, 215 (90%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners (other than those for general party propaganda) and 25 (10%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners (other than those for general party propaganda).

7. Expense on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions without Star Campaigners (other than the ones with star campaigners of the political party): Out of the 240 MLAs analyzed, 209 (87%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. without star campaigners (other than the ones with star campaigners of the political party) and 31 (13%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on public meetings, processions etc. without star campaigners (other than the ones with star campaigners of the political party).

8. Expense on Campaigning through electronic/print media: 122 (51%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaigning through electronic/print media and 118 (49%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaigning through electronic/print media.

9. Expense on Campaign Workers: 192 (80%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign workers and 48 (20%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign workers.

10. Expense on Campaign Materials: 184 (77%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign materials and 56 (23%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign materials.

11. Expense on Campaign Vehicles: 237 (99%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign vehicles and 3 (1%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign vehicles.

12. Expense on Virtual Campaign: 6(2.5%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on virtual campaigns and 234 (97.5%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on virtual campaigns.

13. Expense on Publishing of Declaration Regarding Criminal Cases: Out of the 128 MLAs analysed with declared criminal cases, 115 (90%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on publishing of declarations regarding criminal cases and 13 (10%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on publishing of declarations regarding criminal cases.

Figure: Break Down of Elections Expenses Incurred by MLAs

Summary and Highlights of Sources of Funds Raised by MLAs in the Bihar Assembly 2025 Elections

Figure: Percentage Breakdown of Funds Raised by MLAs

1. Percentage Breakdown of funds Raised by MLAs: Out of the total funds received by MLAs, 70% funds were raised from political parties, 13% were raised by MLAs themselves and 17% funds were raised from other sources.

2. MLAs Who Raised Funds from Political Parties: Out of the 240 MLAs analyzed, 185 (77%) MLAs have declared that they have received funds from political parties and 55 (23%) MLAs have declared that they have not received any funds from political parties.

3. MLAs Who Raised Funds through any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc as loan, gift or donation etc: Out of the 240 MLAs analyzed, 131 (55%) MLAs have declared that they have received funds from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc as loan, gift or donation etc. and 109 (45%) MLAs have declared that they have not received any funds from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc as loan, gift or donation etc.

4. Self-funds used for election campaign: Out of the 240 MLAs analyzed, 220 (92%) MLAs have declared that they have used their own funds for their election campaign and 20 (8%) MLAs have declared that they have not used any of their own funds for their election campaign.

Contact Details

Bihar Election Watch

Mr. Rajiv Kumar

State Co-ordinator

rajivkum...@rediffmail.com

rajiv...@gmail.com

Association for Democratic Reforms/National Election Watch

Media and Journalist Helpline

+91 80103 94248

Email: a...@adrindia.org

Maj.Gen. Anil Verma (Retd)

Head