Bihar was the first state in the country to reserve 50 percent seats for women in all the posts of the three-tier Panchayats raj system. Bihar passed a bill in 2005. Bihar also granted 50 percent reservation to women in Urban Local Bodies in 2007 . As a result, women from all sections of the society got representation in the Rural and Urban local bodies and that to in significant numbers, sometimes outnumbering men. The legislation was hailed throughout the length and breadth of the country by the people across party lines and from different walks of life.

Following Bihar model, many states reserved 50 percent seats for women in rural and urban local bodies including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. In Bihar reservation was also granted to the Extremely Backward Class of all religions in the Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies giving them representation as per their percentage of population. The scheduled caste and scheduled tribe also got reservation proportionate to their population in three tier Panchayats and Urban local Bodies.