NEW DELHI: When the 17th Bihar Legislative Assembly convened in November 2020, expectations were modest but real. By the time it wrapped up in July 2025, it had earned a different kind of distinction, among the least active in Bihar’s post-Independence history.
A new report by PRS Legislative Research, released on October 7 paints a stark picture-- in five years, the Assembly met for just 146 days, averaging a mere 29 days a year. Each sitting lasted around three hours. That is far below the five-hour national average in 2024. Debates were really short, questions fewer, and the scrutiny of laws nearly nonexistent.
All 78 Bills passed during the term were cleared the same day they were introduced. None were referred to a committee—a pattern now entrenched in Bihar for 25 years. Not a single Bill has seen committee scrutiny since 2000.
Compare that to earlier decades. The second Assembly sat for 434 days, the 3rd for 330. But since then, the numbers have steadily fallen over the years 189 days for the 15th Assembly, 154 for the 16th, and now 146 for the 17th.
The Assembly’s legislative focus was also narrow. Nearly a quarter of Bills dealt with education, followed by administration and finance. Agriculture, labour, and social justice received little attention.
On the positive side, some laws stood out-- the Bihar Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024; the Bihar Control of Crimes Bill, 2024; and the 2025 law for app-based gig workers. Two reservation Bills from 2023 were struck down by the Patna High Court in 2024 for breaching constitutional limits.
Even budget debates were brief—just ten days a year, with nine days to review ministry spending. Ordinances, once a tool of executive overreach, have dropped to just seven from 2021 to 2025. But PRS report argues this reflects not restraint, but the Assembly’s shrinking relevance.
In Bihar’s corridors of power, silence had grown louder during the term of the last Assembly.
Bihar will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the votes will be counted on November 14.
