State / UT
Bihar
Bihar is a state of the Indian Union in the eastern Gangetic plain, constituted as a province on 22 March 1912 and reduced to its present boundaries on 15 November 2000 when eighteen southern districts were separated to form Jharkhand. It is among the most populous states in the Republic — 10.41 crore people at the 2011 Census, about 8.6% of India — and sends 40 members to the Lok Sabha, one of the largest state blocs in Parliament. Its legislature is bicameral: a 243-seat Vidhan Sabha and a 75-seat Vidhan Parishad, one of only a handful of states retaining an upper house. What structurally defines Bihar is the gap between its demographic weight and its fiscal base: the 2000 bifurcation took the mineral and industrial belt with it, leaving a state that carries roughly a twelfth of India's voters on one of the lowest per-capita incomes in the Union and a budget heavily dependent on Union transfers and borrowing.
Updated
- Capital
- Patna
- Formed
- Province 22 March 1912; state of the Union 1950; present boundaries 15 November 2000
- Legislature
- Bicameral — Vidhan Sabha 243 seats; Vidhan Parishad 75 seats
- Lok Sabha seats
- 40 (Rajya Sabha 16)
- Population (2011 Census)
- 10.41 crore (~104 million), about 8.6% of India
- Rural share (2011 Census)
- 88.7% rural — among the highest of any large state
- GSDP (2026-27, budget estimate)
- Rs 13.1 lakh crore
- State budget (2026-27)
- Rs 3,24,925 crore expenditure excluding debt repayment
- Government (as of 2026-10-07)
- NDA coalition (BJP, JD(U) and allies); Chief Minister's office held by the BJP since 15 April 2026
- Districts
- 38, in 9 divisions
Role
Bihar is a State List government in the full sense: it runs its own police and law and order, land and land revenue, agriculture and irrigation, public health, schooling and local government across 38 districts in 9 divisions. Its legislature is bicameral — a 243-seat Vidhan Sabha elected first-past-the-post for five years, and a 75-seat Vidhan Parishad that is a permanent body, one-third of whose members retire every two years, composed of 27 members elected by the Assembly, 24 from local authorities, 6 each from graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies and 12 nominated by the Governor. That second chamber is unusual: most Indian states abolished theirs, and Bihar’s survives in unbroken descent from the Council created with the province in 1912. In the Union, Bihar’s weight is electoral before it is economic. Forty Lok Sabha seats and 16 in the Rajya Sabha make it one of the largest state blocs in Parliament, and a state that held about 8.6% of India’s population at the 2011 Census with 88.7% of its people in rural areas exerts a pull on national policy — on reservation, on caste enumeration, on rural programmes — out of proportion to its output.
The structural fact about Bihar as a federal actor is the asymmetry the 2000 bifurcation created. The Bihar Reorganisation Act moved the mineral belt and the industrial corridor to Jharkhand and left the population behind, so the state now carries roughly a twelfth of the country’s voters on a GSDP the 2026-27 budget puts at Rs 13.1 lakh crore and a per-capita income near the bottom of the Union. Its finances lean correspondingly on the Centre and on borrowing: the 2026-27 budget projects Rs 3.25 lakh crore of expenditure financed in part by Rs 39,275 crore of net borrowing, after a revised fiscal deficit of 11.8% of GSDP in 2025-26. Since 15 April 2026 the Chief Minister’s office in the NDA coalition has been held by the BJP rather than the JD(U). Bihar has pressed a standing claim for Special Category Status and, failing that, for project-specific packages — a negotiation that recurs at every Union budget and every Finance Commission. Alongside that fiscal dependence sits a record of the state using its own legislative room aggressively: statewide prohibition since 2016, left in force after the Supreme Court stayed a High Court ruling against it; a caste-based survey conducted on state authority in 2022-23; and a 65% reservation law built on that survey in November 2023 and struck down by the Patna High Court in June 2024. The state has also been the Election Commission’s proving ground — the first Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls ran here in 2025, removed roughly 47 lakh names ahead of the November election, was upheld by the Supreme Court on 27 May 2026, and became the template for a nationwide exercise.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Bihar carved out of the Bengal Presidency
The province of Bihar and Orissa was constituted as a separate unit of British India, ending administration from Calcutta. A 43-member Legislative Council was created alongside it and first sat on 20 January 1913 — the institutional ancestor of the present Vidhan Parishad.
- reference
Bihar Legislative Council constituted under the Constitution
With the Constitution in force, Bihar was organised as a state of the Union with a bicameral legislature. The Council was constituted on 16 February 1950 as a permanent body not subject to dissolution; the first Legislative Assembly followed on 20 April 1952 after the first general election, with 331 members.
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Bihar Reorganisation Act splits off Jharkhand
Parliament passed the Bihar Reorganisation Act in August 2000 and Jharkhand was constituted on 15 November 2000 from eighteen southern districts, including the Chota Nagpur mineral belt and the Dhanbad-Bokaro-Jamshedpur industrial corridor. Assembly strength fell from 331 to the present 243. The bifurcation left Bihar with most of the population and little of the resource base — the structural fact behind its fiscal position ever since.
- reference
Hung assembly, President's rule and a re-run election
The February 2005 election returned no majority; the assembly was dissolved and the state placed under President's rule. A fresh four-phase election in October-November 2005 produced a JD(U)-BJP majority and ended fifteen years of RJD-led government. Turnout was 45.85%.
- reference
Statewide prohibition takes effect
Bihar banned the manufacture, sale, storage and consumption of alcohol from 1 April 2016. The Patna High Court held the ban unconstitutional on 30 September 2016; the Supreme Court stayed that ruling on 7 October 2016 and the state re-enacted a stricter law on 2 October 2016 with non-bailable offences. A 2017 amendment let first-time offenders pay a Rs 50,000 fine in lieu of imprisonment. NFHS data record male alcohol use (ages 15-49) falling from 28.9% in 2015-16 to 17% in 2019-21, against a 6.8-point national decline.
- reference
Reservation raised to 65% on caste-survey findings
Acting on its own 2022-23 caste-based survey, the state legislature raised EBC reservation from 12% to 25% and OBC from 8% to 18%, with SC at 20% and ST at 2% — 65% in total, or 75% counting the 10% EWS quota, past the Supreme Court's Indra Sawhney ceiling. The state sought Ninth Schedule protection from the Union; it was not granted.
- reference
Patna High Court strikes down the 65% reservation law
The High Court held the amendments unconstitutional and voided the enhanced quotas in jobs and education. The judgment left the caste survey itself standing while removing the policy built on it, and the question of how far a state may legislate reservation off its own enumeration remains contested.
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State budget puts GSDP at Rs 10.97 lakh crore
The 2025-26 budget estimated expenditure excluding debt repayment at Rs 2,94,075 crore against receipts excluding borrowings of Rs 2,61,357 crore, with a fiscal deficit target of 3% of GSDP (Rs 32,718 crore) after a 9.2% revised figure in 2024-25. GSDP was projected at Rs 10.97 lakh crore. Net borrowings of Rs 32,918 crore financed the gap.
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Eighteenth Vidhan Sabha constituted after a high-turnout election
Polling on 6 and 11 November 2025 returned the NDA with 202 of 243 seats — BJP 89, JD(U) 85 — against 35 for the Mahagathbandhan, with the RJD at 25, its lowest since 2010. Turnout was 67.25%, roughly ten points above the previous election. The assembly was constituted on 20 November 2025.
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2026-27 budget; 2025-26 deficit revised to 11.8% of GSDP
The 2026-27 budget projected GSDP at Rs 13.1 lakh crore (15% nominal growth) and expenditure excluding debt repayment at Rs 3,24,925 crore against receipts excluding borrowings of Rs 2,85,813 crore, with a fiscal deficit target of 3% of GSDP (Rs 39,112 crore). The revised estimates put 2025-26 spending 36% above budget and that year's fiscal deficit at 11.8% of GSDP, against a 3% target and a 3.5% permitted limit. Own tax revenue is budgeted at Rs 65,800 crore, 5% of GSDP.
- official
New Governor appointed
A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique appointed a retired Army lieutenant general as Governor of Bihar, effective from assumption of charge — the office before which the incoming Chief Minister staked his claim to form the government six weeks later.
- official
Chief Minister's office passes from the JD(U) to the BJP
After the JD(U) Chief Minister was elected to the Rajya Sabha and resigned, the NDA legislature party unanimously elected the BJP's leader, then Deputy Chief Minister, who staked a claim before the Governor and was sworn in at Lok Bhavan, Patna — the first BJP holder of the office in Bihar. The coalition itself (BJP 89, JD(U) 85 and smaller allies) is unchanged.
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Supreme Court upholds the Bihar Special Intensive Revision
The Election Commission ran the first Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar from June to September 2025, cutting the roll from 7.89 crore to 7.42 crore electors — about 47 lakh deletions, near 6% of the electorate — months before the assembly election. The exercise was contested through the campaign and extended nationwide from 27 October 2025. On 27 May 2026 the Supreme Court held it consistent with the Representation of the People Act and within the Commission's constitutional duty.
Frequently asked
- Why does Bihar demand Special Category Status and why has the Centre refused?
- The demand rests on the bifurcation of 2000. The Bihar Reorganisation Act took effect on 15 November 2000, carving eighteen southern districts into Jharkhand — the Chota Nagpur mineral belt and the Dhanbad-Bokaro-Jamshedpur industrial corridor. Bihar retained most of the population and little of the resource base, which is the structural fact behind its fiscal position ever since. Special Category Status would mean a far higher central grant share in centrally sponsored schemes and concessional borrowing terms. The Centre's refusal rests on the framework itself: SCS was a National Development Council device tied to the Planning Commission's Gadgil formula, and after the Fourteenth Finance Commission raised states' share of the divisible pool and the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog, the government's position has been that the category no longer exists to be granted. Bihar's own numbers show the pressure: the 2025-26 budget projected GSDP at Rs 10.97 lakh crore with expenditure excluding debt repayment of Rs 2,94,075 crore against receipts excluding borrowings of Rs 2,61,357 crore, the gap financed by Rs 32,918 crore of net borrowing. The 2026-27 budget projects GSDP at Rs 13.1 lakh crore and expenditure excluding debt repayment of Rs 3,24,925 crore against receipts excluding borrowings of Rs 2,85,813 crore, with Rs 39,275 crore of net borrowing; the revised 2025-26 fiscal deficit came in at 11.8% of GSDP against a 3% target, and the 16th Finance Commission described Bihar's debt level, given its dependence on central transfers, as a matter of concern. reference · as of 2026-10-07 · source 1 source 2 source 3
- What is Bihar's per capita income compared to the Indian average?
- Bihar is India's poorest large state by per capita income, and the gap is wide rather than marginal. PRS Legislative Research, reading the state's 2026-27 budget documents, puts Bihar's per capita GSDP for 2024-25 at Rs 76,490 at current prices against an all-India per capita GDP of Rs 2,34,859 — roughly a third of the national figure. The state's GSDP, projected at Rs 13.1 lakh crore for 2026-27, supports a population of 10.41 crore, about 8.6 per cent of India's, recorded in the 2011 Census. Two structural features explain the persistence. The first is the 2000 bifurcation, which transferred the mineral and industrial base to Jharkhand while leaving Bihar the population. The second is that Bihar remains 88.7 per cent rural on the 2011 Census, among the highest of any large state, with correspondingly little of the urban services economy that has driven income growth elsewhere. For the current official series, check the state's Economic Survey and MoSPI's state-domestic-product tables rather than budget projections. reference · as of 2026-10-07 · source 1 source 2
- What is Bihar?
- Bihar is a state of the Indian Union in the eastern Gangetic plain, constituted as a province on 22 March 1912 and reduced to its present boundaries on 15 November 2000 when eighteen southern districts were separated to form Jharkhand. It is among the most populous states in the Republic — 10.41 crore people at the 2011 Census, about 8.6% of India — and sends 40 members to the Lok Sabha, one of the largest state blocs in Parliament. Its legislature is bicameral: a 243-seat Vidhan Sabha and a 75-seat Vidhan Parishad, one of only a handful of states retaining an upper house. What structurally defines Bihar is the gap between its demographic weight and its fiscal base: the 2000 bifurcation took the mineral and industrial belt with it, leaving a state that carries roughly a twelfth of India's voters on one of the lowest per-capita incomes in the Union and a budget heavily dependent on Union transfers and borrowing.
- When was Bihar established?
- Bihar was established 1912-03-22.
- What does Bihar do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order and the state police, land and land revenue, agriculture and irrigation, public health, school and higher education, local government, Bicameral legislature — a 243-seat Vidhan Sabha and a permanent 75-seat Vidhan Parishad not subject to dissolution, Statewide prohibition: manufacture, sale, storage and consumption of alcohol banned by state law since 2016, Caste enumeration as a state instrument — the 2022-23 state caste-based survey and the reservation law built on it, A three-tier Panchayati Raj system administering the largest rural population share of any major state, A standing claim on the Union for Special Category Status and successive special assistance packages.
- What is the latest on Bihar?
- As of 2026-10-07: Supreme Court upholds the Bihar Special Intensive Revision. The Election Commission ran the first Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar from June to September 2025, cutting the roll from 7.89 crore to 7.42 crore electors — about 47 lakh deletions, near 6% of the electorate — months before the assembly election. The exercise was contested through the campaign and extended nationwide from 27 October 2025. On 27 May 2026 the Supreme Court held it consistent with the Representation of the People Act and within the Commission's constitutional duty.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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State government's official portal — departments, schemes, orders.
state.bihar.gov.in/
- Bihar Vidhan Sabha legislation
Legislative Assembly — members, sessions, business, bills.
vidhansabha.bih.nic.in/
- Bihar Vidhan Parishad legislation
Legislative Council — the permanent upper house.
biharvidhanparishad.gov.in/
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Electoral rolls, constituency data, election notifications.
ceobihar.nic.in/
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State budget documents and the annual Bihar Economic Survey.
finance.bihar.gov.in/
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Independent read of state finances, GSDP and deficit.
prsindia.org/budgets/states/bihar-budget-analysis-2026-27
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