Criminal candidates Bihar election: Before the Bihar Assembly elections 2025, a big report has put a question mark on the claims of all the political parties of giving a government with a clean image and better law and order. According to this shocking report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch, every third candidate contesting in Bihar has criminal cases registered against him. It is clearly stated in the report that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is at the forefront in giving tickets to the tainted, but BJP, Congress and Left parties are also not lagging behind in this matter. This report is based on the affidavits given by the candidates to the Election Commission.
Every third candidate is tainted, serious cases also abound
A total of 1,314 candidates are in the fray for the first phase of Bihar Assembly elections 2025. ADR and Bihar Election Watch analyzed the affidavits of all these candidates, in which many shocking facts have come to light.
Out of total 1,314 candidates, 423 candidates (i.e. 32%) have given details of criminal cases registered against them.
What is even more worrying is that out of 1,314 candidates, 354 have serious criminal cases registered against them.
In the list of serious cases, 33 candidates have given information about cases related to murder.
86 candidates face charges of attempt to murder.
Cases related to crime against women are registered against 42 candidates, out of which 2 have informed about rape allegations against themselves.
This report shows that whatever the claims of political parties, their priority has been to give tickets to candidates with criminal records.
Party wise criminal record: RJD is in the lead
Almost all parties are in the same position in terms of giving tickets to tainted candidates. However, RJD is prominent in this list.
political party
number of candidates
Number of tainted candidates
percentage
CPI ML
141393%CPI33100%
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
705376%
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
483165%
Congress
231565%
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)
13754%
Jansuraj Party
1145044%
Janata Dal United (JDU)
572239%
Figures show that RJD has given tickets to 76% of its 70 candidates who have criminal cases registered against them. BJP and Congress are also high on this list with 65% taints. Even the Left parties (CPI and CPI ML) are in the same situation, where 100% of CPI and 93% of CPI ML candidates have criminal cases. JDU is lowest in this list with 39%. 20% candidates of parties with support base outside Bihar like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and 27% of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also have criminal cases registered against them.
40 percent candidates are millionaires
Important information on the financial condition of the candidates is also given in the ADR report. According to the report, out of 1303 candidates contesting Bihar elections, 519 candidates are crorepatis. This number is approximately 40% of the total candidates. Talking about educational qualification, there are 519 candidates who have studied from 5th to 12th, while 651 candidates have studied graduation or above. After this report, one thing is clear in Bihar elections that whether it is RJD, Left, BJP, Congress or Jan Suraj Party which promises Suraj, candidates with criminal cases have got huge tickets. Now the question is, will the people of Bihar ignore the slogans of ‘clean image’ and give a chance to these ‘tainted’ candidates?