Press Release: Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: Consolidated Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Candidates - Phase 1 and 2

1 view

Skip to first unread message

ADR India

unread,

Nov 5, 2025, 4:22:56 AM (6 days ago) Nov 5

to national...@googlegroups.com, national-el...@googlegroups.com

Press Release

Date: November 5, 2025

Dear Friends,

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 2600 out of 2616 candidates, who are contesting in the Bihar 2025 Assembly Elections. Out of 2616 contesting candidates, 431 are from National parties, 351 are from State parties, 908 are from registered unrecognized parties and 926 candidates are contesting Independently.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/Consolidated_Candidates_Report_Bihar_2025

This report also includes Analysis of Assets Comparison of Re-Contesting MLAs in the Bihar Assembly Election 2025

Party	Total Contesting Candidates	Total Number of Analysed Candidates	Candidates with declared Criminal Cases	% of candidates with declared criminal cases	Candidates with declared serious criminal cases	% of candidates with declared serious criminal cases	No. of Crorepatis	Percentage of Crorepati Candidates
National Parties	431	429	164	38%	134	31%	223	52%
State Parties	351	348	193	55%	151	43%	277	80%
Registered Unrecognized Party	908	900	247	27%	209	23%	314	35%
Independent	926	923	234	25%	201	22%	267	29%
Total	2616	2600	838	32%	695	27%	1081	42%

Table: Party Category Wise Details

Summary and Highlights

Phase Wise Summary of Candidates

Phase	No. of contesting candidates	No. of Candidates analysed	No. of Constituencies	No. of Candidates with Criminal Cases	% of Candidates with Criminal Cases	No. of Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases	% of Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases	No. of Crorepati Candidates	% of Crorepati Candidates	Average Assets (Rs. In crores)	Date of Poll
1	1314	1303	121	423	32%	354	27%	519	40%	3.26	6^th November, 2025
2	1302	1297	122	415	32%	341	26%	562	43%	3.44	11^th November, 2025
Total	2616	2600	243	838	32%	695	27%	1081	42%	3.35	-

Table: Phase wise summary of candidates

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 2600 candidates analysed in Bihar Assembly elections 2025, 838(32%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections, out of 3722 candidates analysed, 1201(32%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 695(27%) have declared serious criminal cases. In 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections, 915 (25%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2020 vs 2025

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,108(47%) out of 231 candidates analysed from Jan Suraaj Party, 35(19%) out of 180 candidates analysed from BSP, 91 (65%) out of 140 candidates analysed from RJD, 61 (60%) out of 101 candidates analysed from BJP, 36(36%) out of 101 candidates analysed from JD(U), 24(29%) out of 83 candidates analysed from AAP, 40(67%) out of 60 candidates analysed from INC, 16(57%) out of 28 candidates analysed from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), 18(90%) out of 20 candidates analysed from CPI(ML)(L), 7(78%) out of 9 candidates analysed from CPI and 4 (100%) out of 4 candidates analysed from CPI(M) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,100(43%) out of 231 candidates analysed from Jan Suraaj Party, 28(16%) out of 180 candidates analysed from BSP, 69 (49%) out of 140 candidates analysed from RJD, 49 (49%) out of 101 candidates analysed from BJP, 26(26%) out of 101 candidates analysed from JD(U), 21(25%) out of 83 candidates analysed from AAP, 32(53%) out of 60 candidates analysed from INC, 14(50%) out of 28 candidates analysed from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), 13(65%) out of 20 candidates analysed from CPI(ML)(L), 6(67%) out of 9 candidates analysed from CPI and 4 (100%) out of 4 candidates analysed from CPI(M) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party	Bihar Assembly 2020			Bihar Assembly 2025
Party	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases	Percentage of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases	Percentage of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases
CPI(M)	4	4	100%	4	4	100%
CPI(ML)(L)	19	17	90%	20	18	90%
CPI	6	5	83%	9	7	78%
INC	70	45	64%	60	40	67%
RJD	141	98	70%	140	91	65%
BJP	109	76	70%	101	61	60%
LJP (RAM VILAS)	135	70	52%	28	16	57%
JD(U)	115	56	49%	101	36	36%
BSP	78	29	37%	180	35	19%

Table: Party Wise Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2020 vs 2025

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2020 vs 2025

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 94 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women. Out of 94 candidates, 5 candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-375 and 376).

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 52 candidates have declared cases of to murder (IPC Section-302, 303) and (BNS Section-103(1)).

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 165 candidates have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) and (BNS Section-109).

Red Alert Constituencies*: 164(67%) out of 243 constituencies are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 217 (89%) constituencies in the Bihar assembly elections 2020 had 3 or more candidates with declared criminal cases.

The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 32% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Bihar Elections have given tickets from 19 % to 100 % candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. The Supreme Court in its directions dated 13th February, 2020 had specifically instructed political parties to give reasons for such selection and why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates. As per these mandatory guidelines, the reasons for such selection has to be with reference to qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate concerned. During the recent Delhi Assembly elections held in february 2025, it was observed that political parties gave unfounded and baseless reasons like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated etc. These are not sound and cogent reasons for fielding candidates with tainted backgrounds. 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.

Financial Background

Figure: Share of Wealth among the Contesting Candidates

Share of wealth among candidates: The share of wealth amongst the candidates contesting in the Bihar assembly elections 2025 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 crores and above	393	15%
2 crores to 5 crores	368	14%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	694	27%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	632	24%
less than 10 lakhs	513	20%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 2600 candidates analysed, 1081(42%) are crorepatis. In 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections, out of 3722 candidates, 1231(33%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2020 Vs 2025

Party wise Crorepati Candidates: The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties 167(72%) out of 231 candidates analysed from Jan Suraaj Party, 127(91%) out of 140 candidates analysed from RJD, 88(87%) out of 101 candidates analysed from BJP, 92(91%) out of 101 candidates analysed from JD(U), 49(82%) out of 60 candidates analysed from INC, 57(32%) out of 180 candidates analysed from BSP, 25(89%) out of 28 candidates analysed from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), 26(31%) out of 83 candidates analysed from AAP, 5(25%) out of 20 candidates analysed from CPI(ML)(L), 5(56%) out of 9 candidates analysed from CPI and 3(75%) out of 4 candidates analysed from CPI(M) have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Party	Bihar Assembly 2020			Bihar Assembly 2025
Party	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage of Crorepati Candidates	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage of Crorepati Candidates
JD(U)	115	96	84%	101	92	91%
RJD	141	120	85%	140	127	91%
LJP (RAM VILAS)	135	99	73%	28	25	89%
BJP	109	94	86%	101	88	87%
INC	70	51	73%	60	49	82%
CPI(M)	4	1	25%	4	3	75%
CPI	6	2	33%	9	5	56%
BSP	78	33	42%	180	57	32%
CPI(ML)(L)	19	1	5%	20	5	25%

Table: Party Wise Crorepati Candidates: 2020 vs 2025

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates: 2020 vs 2025

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 is Rs 3.35 Crore. In 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 3722 Candidates was Rs. 1.72 crore.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 231 Jan Suraaj Party candidates analysed is Rs. 5.54 Crores, 180 BSP candidates analysed is Rs 2.05 Crores, 140 RJD candidates have average assets of Rs 8.52 Crores, 101 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 8.73 Crores, 101 JD(U) candidates have average assets of Rs 8.96 Crores, 83 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 1.85 Crores, 60 INC candidates have average assets of Rs 6.81 Crores, 28 Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) candidates have average assets of Rs 13.07 Crores, 20 CPI(ML)(L) candidates have average assets of Rs 95.96 Lakhs and 9 CPI candidates have average assets worth Rs. 4.47 Crores.
High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Ran Kaushal Pratap Singh	Paschim Champaran	Lauriya	Vikassheel Insaan Party	27,42,04,809	3,41,56,52,375^*	3,68,98,57,184 368 Crore+	Y
2	Nitish Kumar	Gaya	Gurua	Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party	31,00,000	2,50,00,00,000^*	2,50,31,00,000 250 Crore+	Y
3	Kumar Pranay	Munger	Munger	BJP	1,34,74,842	1,69,47,21,000	1,70,81,95,842 170 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

* On assets value indicates that the candidate has not provided the total in their affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

Zero assets candidates: One candidate of BSP namely Sunil Kumar Choudhary contesting from Pirpainti (SC) constituency has declared zero assets.

Low assets candidates: The details of three candidates with lowest assets (excluding zero assets candidate) are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Mojahid Alam	Darbhanga	Darbhanga	SUCI(C)	1,000	0	1,000 1 Thou+	Y
2	Shatrudhan Varma	Patna	Barh	Peoples Party of India (Democratic)	1,000^*	0	1,000 1 Thou+	Y
3	Suresh Rajvanshi	Gaya	Wazirganj	Moolniwasi Samaj Party	1,100	0	1,100 1 Thou+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

* On assets value indicates that the candidate has not provided the total in their affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

Candidates with high liabilities: 1232(47%) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits. The details of top three candidates with highest liabilities are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets (Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Shambhu Nath Yadav	Buxar	Brahampur	RJD	12,67,05,019 12 Crore+	66,66,99,868 66 Crore+	Y
2	Dadan Yadav	Buxar	Dumraon	BSP	6,08,07,750 6 Crore+	46,26,50,000 46 Crore+	Y
3	Anant Kumar Singh	Patna	Mokama	JD(U)	1,00,61,73,708 100 Crore+	25,99,55,112 25 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest liabilities

Candidates with high income as declared in the ITR*: The details of top 3 candidates with high income declared in ITR are given below:

S.No.	Name	Party Name	Constituency	District Name	Total Assets (Rs)	Self Source of Income	Spouse's Source of Income	The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by candidate	Total income shown by candidate in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent) (Rs)	Self income shown by candidate in ITR (Rs)
1	Ran Kaushal Pratap Singh	Vikassheel Insaan Party	Lauriya	Paschim Champaran	3,68,98,57,184 368 Crore+	Business & Agriculture	Agriculture & Business	2024-2025	11,48,97,500 11 Crore+	10,99,11,160 10 Crore+
2	Nayan Kumar	IND	Warsaliganj	Nawada	23,29,18,657 23 Crore+	Agriculture & Investment	Investment & Other	2024-2025	10,28,48,300 10 Crore+	4,84,44,900 4 Crore+
3	Deepak Yadav	RJD	Narkatiaganj	Paschim Champaran	70,87,55,004 70 Crore+	Business, Salary, Agriculture, Bank Interest	Business, Salary, Agriculture, Bank Interest	2024-2025	8,59,17,950 8 Crore+	8,42,41,230 8 Crore+

Table: Top 3 candidates with highest income as declared in ITR

Undeclared PAN: A total of 128(5%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 1047(40%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 1278(49%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 34 candidates are Diploma holders. 222 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 17 candidates are Illiterates. 2 candidates have not disclosed their educational qualifications in the affidavit.

Age details of candidates: 908(35%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 1349 (52%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 339 (13%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. There are 4 candidates who have declared their age to be above 80 years.

Gender details of candidates: 254(10%) female candidates are contesting in the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025. In 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections, 371(10%) out of 3722 candidates analysed were women.

Analysis of Assets Comparison of Re-Contesting MLAs

Number of re-contesting MLAs: Number of re-contesting MLAs analysed in the Bihar assembly elections of 2025 is 192.

Average Assets in 2020 Elections: The average assets of these 192 re-contesting MLAs fielded by various parties including independents in 2020 was Rs 4.89 Crores.

Average Assets in 2025 Elections: The average asset of these 192 re-contesting MLAs in 2025 is Rs 7.19 Crores.

Average Asset growth in 5 years (2020-2025): The average asset growth for these 192 re- contesting MLAs, between the Bihar Assembly Elections of 2020 and 2025 is Rs 2.30 Crores.

Percentage growth in 5 years (2020-2025): Average percentage growth in assets for these 192 re-contesting MLAs is 47%.

Comparative analysis of party wise average assets of re-contesting MLAs in 2020 and 2025

S.No.	Party in Bihar Assembly 2025	Total Number of MLAs	Average Assets in Bihar Assembly 2025 (In Rs.)	Average Assets in Bihar Assembly 2020 (In Rs.)	Average Assets Increase (In Rs.)	Average % Increase in Assets
1.	BJP	62	6,72,30,831 6 Crore+	3,89,57,341 3 Crore+	2,82,73,490 2 Crore+	72.58%
2.	RJD	46	7,57,82,299 7 Crore+	5,22,92,835 5 Crore+	2,34,89,464 2 Crore+	44.92%
3.	JD(U)	41	9,86,13,432 9 Crore+	7,40,32,238 7 Crore+	2,45,81,194 2 Crore+	33.2%
4.	INC	12	10,04,86,092 10 Crore+	7,64,53,494 7 Crore+	2,40,32,598 2 Crore+	31.43%
5.	CPI(ML)(L)	11	80,42,291 80 Lacs+	43,52,477 43 Lacs+	36,89,814 36 Lacs+	84.78%
6.	IND	7	3,58,33,592 3 Crore+	2,62,34,156 2 Crore+	95,99,436 95 Lacs+	36.59%
7.	Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)	4	2,81,38,495 2 Crore+	2,07,89,430 2 Crore+	73,49,065 73 Lacs+	35.35%
8.	CPI	2	3,11,01,430 3 Crore+	2,39,95,579 2 Crore+	71,05,851 71 Lacs+	29.61%
9.	CPI(M)	2	2,31,04,646 2 Crore+	64,96,541 64 Lacs+	1,66,08,105 1 Crore+	255.65%
10.	Janshakti Janta Dal	2	6,58,05,746 6 Crore+	4,38,68,217 4 Crore+	2,19,37,529 2 Crore+	50.01%
11.	Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)	1	3,43,59,309 3 Crore+	17,66,836 17 Lacs+	3,25,92,473 3 Crore+	1844.68%
12.	Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)	1	17,25,16,231 17 Crore+	14,36,11,874 14 Crore+	2,89,04,357 2 Crore+	20.13%
13.	All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen	1	1,30,71,394 1 Crore+	74,14,055 74 Lacs+	56,57,339 56 Lacs+	76.31%
GRAND TOTAL		192	7,19,53,677.21 7 Crore+	4,89,05,087.17 4 Crore+	2,30,48,590.03 2 Crore+	47%

Table: Average asset increases of re-contesting MLAs - party wise

Recommendations of ADR

To remedy the existing problem of criminalization is to immediately act upon the plausible solutions offered by various committees, civil society and citizens. The Supreme Court of India being the ultimate custodian of “Justice and Rule of Law” should reprimand political parties and politicians for their complete lack of will, reprehensible predilection and absence of required laws.
Permanent disqualification of candidates convicted for heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling, dacoity, kidnapping etc.
Disqualification of persons from contesting elections to the public offices against whom charges have been framed for having committed serious criminal offences punishable by imprisonment of at least 5 years, and the case is filed at least 6 months prior to the election in question.
Cancellation of tax exemptions given to the political parties who field such tainted candidates.
Bringing political parties under the Right to Information Act.
De-register and de-recognise any political party if it knowingly fields a candidate with a tainted background.
Political parties should annually file the information on criminal antecedents of their Office Bearers and make such records available to the public, including NIL records.
Disqualification of candidates furnishing false information in the election affidavit (Form 26).
Ensure trial of cases in which the politicians are accused to be concluded in a time bound manner.
Implementation of SC judgment dated 23^rd September, 2013 (i.e provision of NOTA buttons on the EVMs) in its letter and spirit by ensuring a) if NOTA gets more votes than any of the candidates, none of the candidates should be declared elected, and a fresh election should be held; b) in the fresh election, none of the candidates in the earlier election, in which NOTA got the highest number of votes, should be allowed to contest.
Implementation of the 25^th September, 2018 and 13^th February, 2020 SC orders on 'publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties along with reasons for such selection' in its letter and spirit by directing the Election Commission of India a) to list out names of such tainted candidates selected by the political parties along with such reasons for such selection C8 including diligent publication of reasons in newspapers, T.V channels, party website etc, b) strict and constant reminders by ROs to the defaulters, c) list needs to be religiously prepared and submitted to the Supreme Court after every election, d) uploading of this list on ECI’s website for public inspection, e) a suitably heavy financial penalty levied on political parties for making insufficient disclosures, invalid and common reasons, selection of candidates based on winnability and f) Officer in-charge of a political party pertaining to submission of a compliance report should also be held accountable for such a breach.
The Election Commission of India and all State Election Commissions should make it mandatory in all elections; Parliamentary, Assembly and Local Body elections to carry display boards outside each and every polling booth showing a summarised version of candidates’ affidavits. The polling booths should essentially display details of candidate’s criminal records, assets and liabilities and education qualification.
The Election Commission of India under its ‘Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation’ (SVEEP) as well as through other national campaigns on voter awareness held before every election should inform and aware the voters that (i) taking and giving cash or gifts/freebies for votes is a criminal offense, (ii) such instances should be brought to the notice of the ECI through its web application, (iii) inform voters that information on criminal records of candidates is available on the ECI website, outside polling booths and other sources that the ECI may use.
Political parties in India should be required to announce/publish the list of candidates contesting elections at least 3 months prior to elections.
Role of money and muscle power is evident from the fact that all major political parties in Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 have fielded 25% to 91% candidates who are crorepatis and 19% to 100 % candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. 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.