NDA retains power in Bihar, decimates Mahagathbandhan; PM Modi, Nitish hail landslide win

Public Lokpal
November 15, 2025

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NDA retains power in Bihar, decimates Mahagathbandhan; PM Modi, Nitish hail landslide win

PATNA: The ruling NDA decimated the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar on Friday to retain power, reaffirming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's enduring appeal and dealing a body blow to the Congress and ally RJD. 

The massive scale of the victory of the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) can be gauged from the fact that its two main constituents--BJP and JD(U)-- clocked a nearly 85 per cent strike rate in 101 seats each they had contested.

The alliance secured a "200 paar" win for a three-fourths majority with the BJP emerging as the single largest party. 

While the BJP won 89 seats, up from 74 in 2020, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal(U) tasted success in 85 constituencies, up from 43.

The majority mark in the 243-member Assembly is 122.  

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) seat tally slipped to 25 from 75, and Congress bagged only six out of the 61 seats it contested, down from 19.  

BJP's performance would further cement its position as the numero uno political force in the country and also offset whatever setback that might have been caused by last year's Lok Sabha polls when the party had to rely on allies to remain in power in the Centre. 

The NDA's tally in Bihar comes in the backdrop of the BJP's back-to-back stunning performances in Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana. Last year, the BJP had won 132 of the 149 seats it had contested in Maharashtra.

The strong backing to Chief Minister Kumar by Modi and his ministers during their poll campaign also appeared to have paid rich dividends for the JD(U). 

The LJP(RV), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, the self-declared "Hanuman" of the Prime Minister, which was left with only 28 candidates in the fray, with nomination papers of one of its nominees getting rejected during scrutiny, won 19 seats. 

Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwah's Rashtriya Lok Morcha, both junior partners in the NDA, won five and four seats respectively. Both parties had contested six seats each. To consolidate Dalit support, the BJP banked on its two key allies--Manjhi and Paswan. The Mahagathbandhan, which includes the RJD, the Congress and three Left parties, faced a crushing defeat, notwithstanding surveys and opinion polls showing its Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav as the most preferred leader for the top post. 

Mahagatbahndhan also struggled to retain its strongholds. The Muslim and Yadav (M-Y) combination traditionally formed the bedrock of the RJD's support base in Bihar. 

It was an embarrassing loss of face for the Congress, often seen as a "weak link" in the INDIA bloc. Rahul Gandhi's poll campaign against the BJP that revolved around his "Vote Chori"(vote theft) allegations failed to garner any support.      

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owais's AIMIM, which has often been accused of being a "B-team" of the BJP, won five seats. The party had contested 32 seats. Indian Inclusive Party got one seat with its Saharsa candidate Indrajeet Prasad Gupta defeating BJP's Alok Ranjan. 

The NDA's victory in the Bihar polls, which were held in two phases amid alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls by the Election Commission, is also significant as many see it as a prelude to assembly polls in West Bengal and Assam, scheduled to be held in the next six months. 

PTI