Out of the 243 MLAs elected in the Bihar Assembly Election 2025, 130 (53%) have criminal cases registered against them. Of these, 102 (42%) face serious charges such as murder and kidnapping. Six MLAs have pending cases related to crimes against women.

A total of 54 BJP MLAs, 31 JDU MLAs and 18 RJD MLAs have criminal cases listed against them. Meanwhile, 92% of JDU, 87% of BJP, 96% of RJD and all Congress MLAs have assets exceeding ₹1 crore.

102 MLAs have serious criminal cases registered against them

According to the ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms) report, 130 (53%) of the 243 MLAs have criminal cases registered against them. This marks a slight improvement from 2020, when 163 (68%) of 241 winning MLAs faced criminal charges. The overall situation has improved by 15%.

A total of 102 (42%) MLAs elected in 2025 have admitted to serious criminal cases. In 2020, this figure stood at 123 (51%).

Six NDA MLAs accused in murder cases

Six newly elected NDA MLAs face murder charges—three from BJP and three from JDU. Another six NDA MLAs have been named in cases involving crimes against women.

61% of BJP MLAs face criminal cases

Criminal cases are registered against 54 of BJP’s 89 MLAs (61%), 31 of JDU’s 85 MLAs (36%), and 18 of RJD’s 25 MLAs (72%).

When it comes to serious criminal cases, 43 BJP MLAs, 23 JDU MLAs and 14 RJD MLAs stand accused.

92% of JDU and 87% of BJP MLAs are millionaires

Most newly elected MLAs are millionaires. Of BJP’s 89 MLAs, 77 are millionaires. JDU has 78 millionaires among its 85 MLAs. All six Congress MLAs are millionaires. Around 80% of HAM MLAs are also in the millionaire bracket.

20 newly elected MLAs hold doctorates, 7 are just literate

Of the 243 MLAs, 152 (about 62%) hold graduate or higher degrees—raising hopes that the quality of debate in the Assembly will remain strong over the next five years.

However, many leaders have limited formal education. RJD leader Tejashwi is among them. Seven MLAs are only literate.

Bahubalis like Anant Singh and Amarendra Pandey win

Anant Singh, known as ‘Chhote Sarkar’, won the Mokama seat on a JDU ticket while lodged in jail. He was arrested on 1 November in the Dularchand Yadav murder case. JDU’s Amarendra Pandey also won from Kuchaikot. Relatives of several strongmen, including Chetan Anand and Osama Shahab, have also entered the Assembly.

Discrepancy in number of serious criminal cases

Several discrepancies have emerged in reporting serious criminal cases.

For instance, JDU’s Amarendra Kumar Pandey from Kuchaikot is shown to have 14 criminal cases. ADR and The Hindu state that only one of these is a serious charge.

However, MyNeta.info reports that out of the 14 cases, four relate to murder and four to attempted murder. This raises a key question: how was an MLA with four murder and four attempted murder charges officially recorded as having only “one serious case”?

Another example is Raju Kumar Singh, elected BJP MLA from Sahebganj. He has 10 criminal cases registered against him. ADR/The Hindu data claims none of these are serious. But MyNeta.info lists one case involving extortion-related injury—a serious offence.