Landslide for NDA, highest vote share for RJD, Cong blames ‘vote chori’

Bihar is barrelling toward one of its most emphatic mandates in years. The NDA has opened up an unassailable lead, ahead on 205 of 243 seats, while the Mahagathbandhan is left clinging to just 31, with independents and smaller outfits leading on seven.

Within the NDA, the BJP leads on 95 seats and the JD(U) on 72 – both having contested 101 each. The smaller allies are putting up a strong show too: the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leads on 19 of 28 seats, Hindustani Awam Morcha on five of six, and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha on four of six.

For the Mahagathbandhan, which entered the contest hoping anti-incumbency, internal NDA frictions, and promises of government jobs would finally add up, the numbers look brutal. The RJD, contesting 143 seats, leads on just 25, uncomfortably close to its 2010 nadir of 22. The Congress, contesting 61 seats, is ahead in just three. Mukesh Sahani’s VIP, once pitched with a deputy-CM sheen, isn’t leading on any of the 12 seats it fought. The Left bloc (CPI-ML, CPI, CPM), contesting 33 seats together, leads on only three.

Despite fewer seats, the RJD secured a higher vote share of 22.76 percent compared to BJP’s 20.9 percent and JD-U’s 18.9 percent.

Among smaller players, AIMIM, which fielded candidates in 25 seats, leads in six, signalling pockets of consolidation in its familiar turf. The BSP leads in one.

The contrast with 2020 underscores the scale of today’s realignment. Back then, the RJD was the single largest party with 75 seats; the Congress picked up 19; and the Left combined for 16, including 12 for CPI(ML). On the NDA side, the BJP had 74 and the JD(U) 43 – the latter still indispensable in forming the government despite its reduced tally. HAM and VIP won four each, while the LJP was left with only one seat.

This time, the NDA’s sweep has effectively shut the door on Tejashwi Yadav’s bid to become India’s youngest chief minister. Early trends put Tejashwi behind the BJP in his home turf Raghopur, but at the time of writing this, he had a comfortable lead of over 8,000 votes after 22 rounds of counting. His brother Tej Pratap, who contested as a rebel, trailed at the third spot in Mahua.

Chirag Paswan, meanwhile, has pushed the LJP (RV) close to its peak performance of 29 seats in 2005 under Ram Vilas Paswan. The NDA’s decision to allocate these many seats to his faction had raised eyebrows. But today, it looks like a shrewd bet.

Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera reportedly blamed the results on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. “As I said, the initial trends in itself show that Gyanesh Kumar appears to be succeeding against the people of Bihar. This fight is not between the BJP, Congress, RJD, and JDU. This is a direct fight between Gyanesh Kumar and the people of India.”

Congress’s Bihar observer Ashok Gehlot blamed the mandate on “vote chori”.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called the NDA’s lead “seriously disappointing”. “If that turns out to be the final result, then I think there will have to be some very serious introspection, and I don’t just mean introspection, sitting and thinking, but also studying what went wrong, what were the tactical, messaging or organisational mistakes. I’m not somebody who has campaigned in Bihar. I was not invited to campaign in Bihar, and therefore, I cannot give you any first-hand information. But I’ve been talking to people…our party leaders must do some very serious analysis of where things went wrong.”

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav blamed the Special Intensive Revision. “The game of the SIR played in Bihar will no longer be possible in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, UP, and other places now because this electoral conspiracy has been exposed. From now on, we shall not let them play this game. Like CCTV, our ‘PPTV’, meaning ‘PDA Prahari’, will stay vigilant and thwart the BJP’s intentions. BJP is not a party; it is another term for deceit.”

Shiv Sena (Uddhav) leader Sanjay Raut made the same reference.

However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the “mandate of the people” and said the nation wants a “purification of voters’ list”. “Every single vote of the people of Bihar is a symbol of faith in the Modi government’s policy against infiltrators who play with India’s security and resources, and their sympathisers. The public has given a befitting reply to those who protect infiltrators for the sake of vote banks. The people of Bihar have conveyed the mood of the entire country that the purification of the voter list is mandatory and there is no place for politics against it. That is why, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has today reached the last rung in Bihar,” Shah said.

Counting is still underway in many booths and the final numbers will be declared only later in the evening.

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