2000s in Bihar

In Bihar the RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav, husband of the Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, was able to assemble a broad coalition of anti-NDA parties. It included RJD, Congress, Lok Janshakti, NCP and CPI(M). Congress was sceptical of the coalition, since the party was only allotted four seats by Laloo. The other coalition partners argued that four seats actually reflected the decreasing strength of Congress in the state. Lok Janshakti, a party with strong support amongst Dalit communities, were allotted eight seats. NCP and CPI(M) were allotted one seat each. RJD itself contested 26 seats.

The Afsar massacre was a mass shooting and mass stabbing that killed 12 people in the Indian village of Afsar, in 2000. The massacre was the result of caste wars of Bihar, which originate from clashes between upper-caste, who were supporters of the existing status quo, and the lower castes, who wanted to change the current system. According to the data by the "South Asia terrorism portal", the victims of these caste wars were most often Dalits, followed by Forward Castes, while Upper Backwards were victims less frequently than any other group.

Legislative Assembly elections were held in February 2000, to elect the 324 members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The Rashtriya Janata Dal won the most seats, but a short-lived government was formed by an alliance that included the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samata Party. The voter turnout in 2000 assembly polls was 62.6%.

Bihar Assembly elections were held twice in the year 2005. There was a fractured verdict in the February 2005 Assembly Election. Since no government could be formed in Bihar, fresh elections were held in October–November the same year.

On 18 May 2004, four people were massacred at Lahsuna village in Bihar state of India. Members of the People's War Group, an outlawed naxal group, were accused of the crime. About 100 armed members of the group reportedly dragged the victims out of their homes and killed them for casting their votes in favour of Janata Dal (United). The victims were identified as Uday Paswan, Naga Paswan, Vijay Paswan, and Sarwan Paswan. In 2008, three members of the People's War Group were found guilty of the killings and sentenced to capital punishment by a court in Patna.

The 2009 Indian general election in Bihar were held for 40 seats with the state going to polls in the first four phases of the general elections. The major contenders in the state were the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Indian National Congress and the Fourth Front. NDA consisted of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) whereas the fourth front was constituted of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

The Jahanabad prison attack, also known as the Jahanabad jail break incident was a naxalite operation, conducted by the members of Communist Party of India (Maoist) (led by Yadav leaders) against the state of Bihar, on 13 November 2005. In the backdrop of legislative assembly elections being conducted in the state and lack of elected government in power, the state machinery was involved in conducting the elections in free and fair manner. The President's rule (imposed earlier) was being implemented in the state, and the Naxalites found it a good opportunity to conduct this massive operation. As per various reports, around 12 people, all belonging to Ranvir Sena (who were incarcerated in Jahanabad prison) were killed by the naxalites (belonging to Yadav Caste) in this incident. This event was not centred around the prison only, which was the centre of operation, but around 1000 Naxalites were inside the city of Jahanabad, who virtually controlled the city for a short span of time. A total of 389 prisoners were freed by the Naxalites in this operation codenamed 'Operation Jailbreak'. Those who were freed, also included Ajay Kanu— a top level Naxal commander, and many of the Maoists. The operation was conducted by People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (India)— a militant underground unit of CPI (Maoist).

Bihar Assembly elections were held twice in the year 2005. There was a fractured verdict in February 2005 Assembly Election. Since no government could be formed in Bihar, fresh elections were held in October–November the same year.