https://thewire.in/rights/deleted-by-design-the-institutional-disenfranchisement-of-women-in-bihar
In Bihar, democracy has long worn a distinctly feminine face. In the 2020 assembly elections, women’s turnout was 59.7%, while men’s was 54.6% – marking the third election in a row where female turnout exceeded male turnout in the state. In the same election, women outpolled men in 167 out of 243 constituencies.
This pattern extends beyond state polls. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar as well, women pulled ahead: their turnout being around 59.45%, compared to men at about 53%. The trend of women leading in electoral participation is not a fluke but a structural feature of Bihar’s recent politics. Against this backdrop, the SIR’s disproportionate removal of women from the rolls doesn’t merely shrink numbers – it targets the very group that has historically turned out with strength, frequently swung margins, and shaped agendas.
Even before the revision, Bihar’s women were underrepresented in its electorate. On Jan 1, 2025, the roll had 914 women per 1,000 men, already below Bihar’s census ratio of 918. After SIR, that slid to just 894:1000. This translates to the fact that women constitute 59.7% of the reduction in the electorate from January 2025 to September 2025, with districts like Gopalganj, Madhubhani and Kishanganj seeing the largest proportion of deleted women electors.
The roots of this disproportionate exclusion lie in the texture of women’s lives and the structural vulnerabilities that surround documentation.
by Himanshi Yadav and Madhav Deepak
27/10/2025