Author: Rahul M

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who steered the BJP’s campaign in Bihar, has said that the victory has given fresh energy for the BJP to take the electoral battles in near future, especially in West Bengal. Excerpts: This is the win of the people of Bihar who want to walk to the future; want to see development. They have accepted and honoured the credibility of the NDA in the state in 20 years and the Central government’s 11 years, too. They have reposed trust and faith in the NDA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s philosophy on development and progress has also been…

New DelhiNovember 15, 2025 08:12 AM IST First published on: Nov 15, 2025 at 08:07 AM IST In the Bihar Assembly election fray this year, a total of 2,616 candidates tried their luck. But with just 243 seats for the taking, 8 in every 10 candidates ended up forfeiting their deposits for failing to win at least one-sixth of the total vote share in their respective seats. A total of 2,107 candidates lost their Rs-10,000 deposit required to contest Assembly elections, accounting for 80.5% of all candidates. In total, the Election Commission (EC) had collected Rs 2.62 crore from all…

The strong “badlav” or change vote that made itself seen and heard on the Bihar ground in this election campaign was addressed overwhelmingly to the 20-year-old incumbent. Be it on corruption or price rise, unemployment or afsarshahi (rule of the bureaucrat), the wayward policy of prohibition, or most of all, the missing “factory” responsible for the unstanched “palayan” or migration from the state, voters said they wanted better and more — from nine-time Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, not from his challengers.To understand the why of the outcome, it may be necessary, first, to say what it isn’t.An outsized section of punditry attributes…

As the NDA stormed to victory handing a crushing defeat to the Mahagathbandhan, the number of Muslim MLAs in Bihar Assembly, it appears, is set to be lowest at 10 since 1990 in eight consecutive elections.Though the Muslim community makes up 17.7% of Bihar’s 13.07 crore population—as per the 2022-23 state caste survey—both the Opposition and the NDA fielded fewer Muslim candidates compared to the 2020 Assembly elections, also contributing to shrinking Muslim representation. After being snubbed by Lalu Prasad-helmed RJD over its offer to be included in the Mahagathbandhan, Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM won five seats of the 25 it…

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Congress-led Mahagatbandhan, too, were not far behind, promising jobs to one member in every family within 20 days of coming to power among other such assurances.For a state with a 40 percent debt-to-GSDP ratio, and which is barely able to cover the salary cost of its employees from its own sources of revenue, arranging the finances to implement the schemes is not just ünsustainable: it will weaken the state’s ability to make routine welfare payments.In the 2025-26 fiscal, Bihar is estimated to spend Rs 1,08,094 crore on committed expenditure (salaries, pension and interest payments), which is…

From giving the ruling NDA stiff competition in the Scheduled Caste-reserved seats in the 2020 Assembly polls, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan has been reduced to single digits this time.Across the state’s 40 reserved seats – 38 for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 2 for Scheduled Tribes (STs) – the ruling NDA has won 34 SC seats and 1 ST seat. The Opposition Mahagathbandhan, however, managed just 4 SC seats and 1 ST seat. In the 2020 Assembly elections, the NDA had won 21 SC seats against the Mahagathbandhan’s 17. That year, the then undivided Lok Janshakti Party, which counts the Dalit Paswan…

The 2025 Bihar election was almost a mirror image of 15 years ago, but with some differences. Back in 2010, the JD(U) won 115 of the 141 seats contested, while the BJP won 91 of the 102 constituencies it contested. This time, both allies contested 101 seats each, with the BJP with a slightly better strike rate, with a tally of 89 seats and the JD(U) slightly behind at 85.The NDA wave — the ruling coalition ended up with 202 seats in total — was the result of the enduring popularity of CM Nitish Kumar, with his support among women…

As the results of the Bihar Assembly polls gave a sweeping mandate to the NDA, they also delivered another clear message – the Mahagathbandhan’s gamble with the Mukesh Sahani-led Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and I P Gupta’s Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) did not pay off.The VIP failed to win any of the 10 seats it contested, dashing the Mahagathbandhan’s hopes of making inroads into the NDA’s Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) strongholds by banking on Sahani’s “son of Mallah” appeal. Meanwhile, Gupta was his party’s only candidate to win in his constituency. The outcome is not just a setback for Sahani, who…

New DelhiNovember 15, 2025 07:35 AM IST First published on: Nov 15, 2025 at 07:35 AM IST The ruling NDA’s landslide win in the Bihar Assembly elections includes those seats which the Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD had won comfortably last time. In 2020, of its 75 seats, the RJD won 45 with at least 40% of the vote share, and 47 with a margin of at least 10,000 votes. It recontested 73 of these 75 seats this time, and is set to lose 55 of them, with more than 25 wrested by the JD(U). The RJD’s losses include 31 seats where…

Express Premium, New DelhiNovember 15, 2025 12:00 AM IST First published on: Nov 15, 2025 at 07:34 AM IST The NDA’s landslide victory in Bihar has come as a shot in the arm for not just the alliance and the BJP but also for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The failure of the BJP to get a majority in last year’s Lok Sabha elections is now well into the past, with the party mopping up wins in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and now Bihar since then – apart from in Odisha, which held polls simultaneously with the general elections. Not just that,…