Muslim MLAs share in Bihar Assembly drops top 4.5% in 2025

The recently concluded 2025 Bihar Assembly elections stood out for many things: NDA’s landslide victory, years of pro-incumbency, cash-for-transfer schemes and a weakened opposition, among others. Another defining feature of this Election is that the state, which has a significant Muslim population, will now have the lowest number of Muslim legislators since 2000.

Number of elected Muslim MPs in Bihar drops to 11 in 2025; this is the lowest in years and a 42% drop from the 2020 Assembly elections, when 19 Muslim legislators were elected.

According to the 2022 Bihar Caste Census, Muslims constitute 17.7% of Bihar’s population. Although they have historically been underrepresented in the State House, making up less than 10% of its members, this election marks a new low; Their presence in the 243-member Parliament falls to just 4.5%.

Five out of ten Muslim MLAs were fielded by the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). This is followed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Indian National Congress with three and two Muslim elected representatives respectively. Md. from Janata Dal (United). Zama Khan is the only Muslim MLA in the winning alliance.

One reason for the decline in the number of Muslim MPs could be the spoiler effect it causes in constituencies where the AIMIM did not win but split the votes.

Another factor may be the decrease in the number of Muslim candidates participating in the 2025 elections. Analysis of candidates contesting this year’s Bihar elections shows that Muslims constitute only 11.8% of the total candidate pool. This share drops to 7.6% when independents are excluded, which reflects only Muslim candidates fielded by political parties.