Bihar’s 2025 mandate was shaped decisively by the state’s progress on poverty reduction and the deepening footprint of the Jeevika self-help group programme, a Moneycontrol analysis shows.

Constituencies with stronger SHG penetration and sharper declines in multidimensional poverty delivered some of the NDA’s highest gains, helping the coalition post one of its strongest performances in recent cycles.

Across the 100 constituencies where SHG members account for the largest share of the population, the NDA secured 58 percent of seats in 2025, up from just 23 percent in 2020. The gains were even stronger in districts that saw faster declines in multidimensional poverty between 2016 and 2021, where the NDA’s seat share jumped to 79 percent from 22 percent five years earlier. The pattern al

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