Revision as of 07:09, 17 December 2017

Bihar assembly elections, 1951- 1967, the parties that won the elections, the runners-up, seats won by them and their share of all votes cast; The growth in the number of seats in the Bihar assembly from 1951 to 2005; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Congress legislators in the Bihar Assembly down the years, 1951-2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections, 1969-85: The parties that won the elections, the runners-up, seats won by them and their share of all votes cast; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections, 1990- 2010: The parties that won the elections, the runners-up, seats won by them and their share of all votes cast; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Assembly elections in Bihar, the performance of national and regional parties, 1990-2010; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, October 27, 2015

1990-2015: The rise and fall of national and state political parties (votes polled, seats won); Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Caste and politics in Bihar: Numbers, loyalties, performance, seen after the assembly elections of Nov 2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly and Lok Sabha elections, 2005-2010, the seats won by the various parties; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 10, 2015

Bihar assembly and Lok Sabha elections: 2014, 2015: the seats won by the various parties; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 10, 2015

Bihar poll toppers: 1951-2010

Bihar poll toppers, 1951-67; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 11, 2015

Bihar poll toppers: 1969-85; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 11, 2015

Bihar poll toppers: 1990-2010; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 11, 2015

2010: Partywise position of postal ballots cast in the Bihar assembly elections; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, October 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections, 1951-80: Votes polled by the ruling alliance as a percentage of the total electorate; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections,1985-2015: Votes polled by the ruling alliance as a percentage of the total electorate; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Muslim MLAs in Bihar: 1952-2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 10, 2015

1951-2010: How representative were the Bihar legislative assemblies; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

1951-2015: Caste composition of the Bihar Legislative Assembly

Caste composition of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, 1951-2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 10, 2015

Bihar, Election trends, Assembly and Lok Sabha: 2005-2014

Bihar: Election trends, 2005-2014 (assembly, Lok Sabha); Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Bihar: Performance of SC and ST candidates in the 2005 and 2010 Assembly Elections; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

MPs and MLAs, Bihar, 2004-14; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 21, 2015

2010: Bihar Assembly election

Strike rates of political parties 2010 election; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections, 2010: Number of rallies by top campaigners; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections, 2010: Number of miles travelled by the campaigners; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

2010 elections: Victory margins

The Times of India, Oct 06 2015

2010 Bihar assembly elections, Winning candidates % of valid votes polled; Winning candidates margin of win; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Oct 06 2015

Atul Thakur  48 seats saw win margins under 5k in 1010

Several close calls can add up to an electoral sweep

Even a contest that is largely bipolar and pro duces a decisive verdict in a state need not produce decisive mandates from seat to seat, as the 2010 polls in Bihar illustrate. An analysis of the 2010 results shows that the onesided verdict in which the JD(U)-BJP combine won 206 of the 243 seats against just 25 for the RJD-LJP alliance nevertheless saw a lot of close seat level contests.

In fact, the winning candidate got a majority of the votes polled in less than 10% of the seats. BJP won in 12 of these constituencies while JD (U) won 11. There were another 91 constituencies where the winning candidate polled between 40% and 50% of the valid votes.Of these, 47 seats went to the JD (U) while the BJP and RJD won in 32 and 11 such seats respectively .

It is interesting to note that in more than half the seats in a largely bipolar contest the winning candidate got less than 40% of the votes. Indeed, there were 29 constituencies where the winner got less than even 30% of the votes polled. Despite sweeping the elections, the winning candidates of the JD(U)-BJP alliance were more or less evenly distributed across all these ranges.

The closeness of the contests at the seat level is revealed also in the victory margins in the 2010 elections. There were 48 constituencies where the victory margin was less than 5,000 votes. The JD(U) won 17 of these seats, the RJD 12 and BJP 11.This clearly sugBATTL gests that even a marginal swing in BI the votes could have thrown up a significantly different outcome in terms of party tallies, though the overall re sult would not have changed.

The average margin was about 15,000 votes. In 145 seats, or about 60% of the total, the vic tory margin was less than this average of 15,000 votes. Interest ingly, in the 98 conEGROUND stituencies where HAR the margin was higher than the av erage the winning alliance was successful in all but one.

It is also instructive to note that despite the essentially bipolar nature of the contest, 35.4% of the votes polled did not go to either of the two major combines.The Congress won 8.4% and smaller parties and independents mopped up a sizeable 27%.

Clearly, therefore, what is bipolar at the state-wide level can become quite multi-cornered at the micro level. That explains why so much effort goes into micro managing the details.

58% MLAs face criminal charges

The Times of India, November 10, 2015

Pranava Kumar Chaudhary

Altogether 142 (58%) of the 243 MLAs elected in 2015 face criminal charges. RJD tops the list with 46 out of its 80 MLAs in that category. The total figure is 1% up compared to 57% in 2010 assembly election. One MLA has declared himself illiterate while 93 (38%) are 5th to 12th pass, 138 (57%) graduate or above and nine are simply literate. Altogether 80 MLAs have been re-elected.

Poonam Devi Yadav, who has been elected from Khagaria on a JD(U) ticket, is the richest among the MLAs with total assets worth over Rs 41 crore. The average assets per MLA elected this time is Rs 3.02 crore. In 2010, it was only Rs 82.46 lakh.

According to Bihar Election Watch (BEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysis based on the MLAs' affidavits submitted with their nomination papers, 98 (40%) have serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, creating communal disharmony, kidnapping and crime against women pending against them.

Out of the 142 MLAs facing criminal cases, 70 (49%) have already been chargesheeted. RJD MLA from Jhanjharpur Gulab Yadav has declared one rape case pending against him, said BEW state coordinator Rajiv Kumar. Ten MLAs have kidnapping cases pending against them. Anant Kumar Singh, an Independent MLA from Mokama in Patna district, has declared two cases of kidnapping or abduction for murder against him, Kumar said.

Party-wise, 46 out of 80 MLAs from RJD (58%), 37 (52%) out of 71 from JD(U), 34 (64%) out of 53 from BJP, 16 (59%) out of 27 from Congress, all the three (100%) from CPI(ML), one (50%) out of two from RLSP and both (100%) from LJP face criminal charges. READ ALSO:

In 5 years, Bihar MLAs' wealth rose how much?

The top three richest MLAs are Poonam Devi Yadav of JD(U) from Khagaria with assets over Rs 41 crore followed by Congress MLA from Bhagalpur Ajeet Sharma (Rs 40 crore) and independent MLA from Mokama Anant Kumar Singh (over Rs 28 crore).

According to the report, Achmit Rishideo of JD(U) from Raniganj in Araria has the lowest assets of only worth Rs 9 lakh. Satyadeo Ram of CPI(ML) from Darauli in Siwan has assets worth more than Rs 11 lakh while Shyam Bahadur Singh of JD(U) from Barharia in Siwan has assets worth over Rs 14 lakh.

Altogether 127 (52.2%) MLAs have declared their age between 25 and 50 years while 116 (48%) are in 51- 80 years age group.

Only 28 (11.5%) women have been elected this time against 33 (14.5%) out of 228 MLAs in 2010.

The young, the rich, the lucky

2015: age, wealth and victory margins in the Bihar Legislative Assembly; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

2010-15

The Bihar Legislative Assembly of 2010-15; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Some information, The Bihar Legislative Assembly of 2010-15; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Bihar Assembly and parliamentary elections, 2010, 2014, 2015: Performance of scheduled caste candidates; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections, 2010, 2015: The margin by which the winning candidates defeated the runners-up; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Bihar assembly elections, 2010 and 2015: A constituency-wise map of which party won which seat; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

The average age of the Bihar legislator in 2010 and 2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

Untoward incidents during Bihar assembly and Lok Sabha elections, 2010, 2014, 2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 8, 2015

Women candidates and women voter in Bihar Assembly polls

Women candidates in Bihar Assembly, 1957-2010; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 21, 2015

Female and male voters, Bihar Assembly polls, 1962-2010; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 21, 2015

1957-2015: Women in the Bihar assembly elections: candidates, MLAs and voter turnouts; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 9, 2015

See also

Bihar: Assembly elections, 2015

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)