The NDA returned to power with a commanding mandate, driven by Nitish Kumar’s revived appeal, BJP’s organisational strength, and a targeted welfare pitch that resonated strongly with women voters across rural Bihar.
BY Navin Upadhyay
Patna, November 14: The 2025 Bihar Assembly elections have delivered a clear and emphatic message: Nitish Kumar is not merely relevant — he is once again central to the state’s politics. The NDA’s strong performance, led by a resurgent JD(U), has redrawn the balance within the ruling alliance and pushed the opposition into one of its weakest positions in recent years. The verdict underscores the power of women as a decisive electoral bloc, the limits of caste arithmetic, and the inability of opposition parties to counter the NDA’s cohesive welfare-and-stability narrative.
The JD(U)’s impressive showing has restored Nitish Kumar to the role of “elder brother,” reversing the hierarchy that had increasingly tilted toward the BJP after a series of political realignments. With the party outperforming the BJP in several crucial constituencies, Nitish’s leadership — once seen as fading — has returned with renewed authority.
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Outside the JD(U) headquarters in Patna, celebrations took on a dramatic visual flourish as party workers unfurled massive posters proclaiming “Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai” alongside a towering image of Nitish Kumar. The posters—splashed in JD(U)’s trademark green and carrying Nitish’s familiar half-smile—quickly became the centrepiece of the victory mood. Supporters crowded around the banners, bursting crackers and showering them with petals as they hailed the Chief Minister’s political comeback after a fiercely contested election. The message was unmistakable: Nitish Kumar, long written off by rivals and analysts alike, had not only survived but re-emerged as the decisive force in Bihar’s politics. The posters captured the sentiment of a party that believes its ‘tiger’ has roared again—and loudly.
पीके 0, ओवैसी 3… नाम बड़े और दर्शन छोटे; RJD का 10 सालों में सबसे कमजोर प्रदर्शन https://t.co/dR7hP0cap1
— Zee News (@ZeeNews) November 14, 2025
Apart from Nitish Kumar’s personal appeal cutting across caste lines, another major factor behind the NDA’s comfortable lead has been the unprecedented turnout of women voters. In district after district, women outnumbered men at polling booths, continuing a trend that began in earlier elections but reached a peak this year. For these voters, the NDA’s promise of continuity in welfare schemes — from livelihood support to household subsidies and self-help group empowerment — proved more compelling than the opposition’s appeals. The perception of Nitish as a calm and dependable administrator, backed by the BJP’s organisational strength, helped consolidate this support.
The NDA’s campaign also effectively revived the “jungle raj” narrative, tapping into memories of law-and-order breakdown during earlier RJD governments. For younger voters who never experienced that era firsthand, the messaging still carried resonance through local storytelling, media amplification, and fears of instability amid economic uncertainty. The result was a stabilisation vote that strongly favoured the ruling alliance.
For Tejashwi Yadav, the outcome marks a major setback. His effort to expand the traditional Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) base into a broader coalition of non-Yadav OBCs, Dalits, and youth voters did not translate into significant gains. The RJD managed to retain its core support but failed to attract new sections in meaningful numbers. Women voters, in particular, drifted sharply away from the party. The RJD’s campaign, centred on job creation and economic regeneration, struggled to compete with the NDA’s delivery-heavy welfare model, and its counter-narrative on law and order failed to blunt the “jungle raj” attacks.
The Congress, meanwhile, continued its long slide toward irrelevance in Bihar. Contesting fewer seats and lacking organisational depth, the party struggled even in constituencies where it once held sway. Internal factionalism, weak booth-level machinery, and a lack of an independent narrative left the Congress dependent on the RJD’s fortunes — a dependency that has now become a liability as the Mahagathbandhan shrinks in influence.
The Left parties, particularly CPI(ML), maintained pockets of influence in Bhojpur, Siwan, and parts of Central Bihar but failed to expand beyond their traditional strongholds. Their cadre strength gave them visibility on the ground, yet their ideological messaging was overshadowed by the NDA’s welfare-focused appeal. In several seats, Muslim votes split between RJD, the Left, and local independents, further weakening the opposition’s consolidation.
Smaller players fared no better. Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj found limited traction beyond certain pockets. Same is the case with RLM led by Upendra Kuswaha and VIP led by Mukesh Sahini.
Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas) delivered another lacklustre performance, despite a high-decibel campaign modelled on aggressive identity politics and development promises. While Chirag retains symbolic value among sections of the Dusadh community, his party’s narrow social base and the two-front consolidation between NDA and RJD left him with few real openings. His attempt to project himself as a challenger to both alliances did not gain traction.
With the JD(U) emerging as the largest party within the NDA fold, the dynamics within the ruling coalition are set to shift. Nitish Kumar, once overshadowed by a stronger BJP machine, will now have greater leverage in shaping policy, cabinet formation, and the ideological direction of the government. This could lead to a renewed emphasis on centrist welfare governance, EBC-Mahadalit empowerment, and administrative moderation, with JD(U) asserting itself more forcefully on issues where it has historically guarded its ideological space.
The 2025 verdict makes one thing clear: Bihar’s politics is no longer a simple contest of caste blocs. Welfare delivery, women’s mobilisation, perceptions of stability, and leadership credibility now shape electoral outcomes more profoundly than at any time in the state’s recent history. For Nitish Kumar, the mandate is a dramatic resurrection. For the opposition — particularly Tejashwi Yadav — it is a moment of reckoning, demanding introspection and reinvention in a political landscape that has decisively tilted toward continuity rather than disruption.
- Live-updates indicate the NDA is ahead on ~193 seats and the Mahagathbandhan (opposition bloc) around 46–50 seats at the last published time
- Party-wise leading tallies reported:
- Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) leading ~ 84 seats.
- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leading ~ 80 seats.
- Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leading ~ 35–37 seats.
- Indian National Congress (INC) leading ~ 6 seats.
Important caveats: These are leading figures during early counting rounds, not final confirmed wins. The ECI portal notes data “is being filled in the system by the Returning Officers”.
