Erased Votes, Promised Cash - The Dual Controversies Shaping Bihar’s Polls

Sri City: In order to understand the issue at hand we need to first understand Bihar's political climate in 2025. The current assembly election has been marked by two major controversies: the large-scale deletion of women voters from the official rolls during a Special Intensive Revision (The Wire Report), and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) emergency rollout of a direct cash transfer scheme that essentially offers INR 10,000 to millions of women before polls (NDTV Analysis). The election commission of India (ECI) sent out the list and the Reporters collective through their investigation went through Bihar’s electoral rolls wherein they found crores of names, many of which ironically belonged to marginalised, Dalit and Muslim women (Reporters Collective Investigation), were either deleted or flagged as duplicates which sparked allegations of disenfranchisement and targeted voter suppression (SC Observations).

At the same time, the BJP government announced and implemented a huge welfare scheme for women which has been advertised as both an economic support measure and as a powerful electoral pitch (Hindustan Times Election Coverage). Both critics and opposition parties contend that the timing and execution of these “moves” are strategic tactics to reshape the electorate and influence what is considered to be one of India's most politically charged elections in recent memories (Indian Express Analysis).

The controversy surrounded the voter list only after the Special Intensive revision of the state's electoral rolls conducted by the ECI (The Leaflet Coverage). This revision further led to the deletion of nearly 65 lakh names from the rolls (Reporters Collective Data). Bihar's voter database has 243 constituencies with more than 14.35 duplicate voters (Reporters Collective Duplicate Voters Story). These voters possess two distinct voter IDs but share the same name, the same relative’s name, and have an age difference of between 0 and 5 years (Reporters Collective). Additionally, analysis from Supreme Court mandated data revealed that more than 7 lakh female electors were deleted compared to previous electoral lists (SC Data Release), this therefore led many to be concerned about the validity of the revision process and the protection of integral women's electoral rights in Bihar (The Wire Women Voter Issue).

Numerous investigations that led, highlighted systemic errors especially with deletions attributed to women voters being marked as “permanently shifted” (New Indian Express Election Deletions) which means to not exist in the state of Bihar. This did not account for the typical reasons such as marriage migration and did not match the census or migration records (which could also have errors but not at this level). Further scrutiny shows there was bias amongst the deleted names. The Muslim women in specific were deleted more compared to others and accounted for almost 33% of the total votes removed(The Wire Muslim Women Report). This is interesting as Muslims seem to constitute approximately 16% of the state's entire electorate (Indian Express). This is what raised suspicions to a greater extent.

Political and legal reactions fueled the controversy. The Supreme Court (SC) repeatedly flagged confusion regarding whether the newly added voters in the “final” rolls were genuinely new or just the simply reinstated individuals who had previously been deleted (SC Hearing Report). The opposition parties accused the ECI of lacking transparency but they also brought to attention the fact that the affected voters were not given valid reasons for their removal, and were not even notified (Leaflet Notification Article). This is considered basic, especially because denying them this means that they are denied a fair opportunity to appeal (The Wire Appeal Rights). Amid this debate the ECI has held onto the position that there was no wrong doing and are attributing these additions to “genuine” new registrations (ECI Statement). They have also dismissed any claims of political interference or the purposeful targeting of women and minority communities.

Another intriguing aspect is that in the weeks leading up to the crucial 2025 Bihar Assembly elections the NDA government that was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar created a new scheme named Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana (Hindustan Times Scheme Launch). Through this initiative a direct cash transfer of rupees 10,000 to each eligible woman, with an initial target of around 75 lakh women beneficiaries at least in the first round (NDTV Election Welfare Scheme). 

The scheme was officially launched September 2025, especially as campaign activities escalated across the state (Economic Times Scheme Timeline). This was then followed by another round with more cash infusions that went upto almost 25 lakh more women in October beginning. The government claims that they have received more than one crore applications and they plan on distributing funds through Self Help Groups such as Jeevika which are known to already encompass a large network of more than 1.5 crore women in Bihar (Economic Times).

The policy is advertised with the aim of supporting entrepreneurship and self-reliance in what is considered to be one of the nation's most economically challenged and underdeveloped states. These funds were offered to help launch and expand small businesses, with the initial direct transfer granting ₹10,000 to eligible women. In addition, the scheme promised that women who demonstrated successful and productive use of this initial grant could become eligible for further financial assistance: specifically, they could apply for support of up to ₹2 lakh, provided in the form of low-interest loans rather than direct cash grants. This means the additional amount is not given freely, but works as a credit facility intended to help those women who show clear potential for growth. However the factor that triggered debate and widespread scrutiny was the ironic timing of this initiative, weeks before polling (Indian Express Election Timing). Opposition leaders such as Maharashtra’s Uddhav Thackeray, argued that the policy represented an attempt at electoral inducement and therefore accused the BJP of courting women voters with cash “freebies” especially in a state where their votes are considered to be decisive (Times of India Opposition Critique).  This is because in Bihar, the recent elections have found that women voters are showing up in greater numbers than men and therefore have the power to shift electoral outcome making them a key demographic. The opposition also went against the NDA’s (National Democratic Alliance which is led by the BJP) governments grant with their own electoral premises which was of sustained monthly payments  to women voters (Opposition Pledge Coverage), this framed BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) policy as an ad hoc strategy instead of an genuine welfare reform.

This has been observed to be part of a larger nationwide trend with the ruling party that uses specific welfare transfers to consolidate voter support especially among women ahead of elections. The implementation and speed of the 10k scheme means that it served as a significant electoral pitch (Hindustan Times Scheme Impact). This is not to say that the scheme is without support, they in fact push the scheme as an overdue recognition of women's economic role (News OnAir).

In conclusion the Bihar voter list controversy and the scheme expose the reality behind the health of the Indian democracy and this requires urgent answer and speculation. Especially as a generation of young Indians who have grown up believing in democratic institutions, confronting such uncomfortable realities raises questions. When the considered guardians of the electoral integrity, the Election Commission, is compromised, where do we place our trust?. Furthermore there are macro implications as well such as for the first-time voters in Bihar, over 14 lakh individuals will need to cast their votes amid this chaos. What message does it send when their first democratic experience involves witnessing the systematic deletion of 65 lakh names, disproportionately targeting women and minorities, followed by a convenient ₹10,000 cash handout weeks before polling? Is the fact that democracy is a marketplace where votes can be bought and electoral rolls can be "modified" to suit political convenience a norm now?