Early trends in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections show the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead on 53 seats, while the Mahagathbandhan is leading in 29 constituencies. The Jan Suraaj party has taken the lead in two seats as well.
Counting of votes for all 243 constituencies began at 8 am amid tight security. Officials began tallying postal ballots, with the counting of EVM votes scheduled to start at 8:30 am.
Elaborate security arrangements are in place, with 4,372 counting tables and over 18,000 counting agents overseeing the process. Most exit polls predict a comfortable victory for the NDA.
According to the ECI’s official press note, 2,616 candidates and 12 recognised political parties participated in the two-phase polls on November 6 and 11, and none requested repolling in any constituency.
The main election contest in the Bihar elections is between the National Democratic Alliance, led by CM Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav’s Mahagathbandhan.
In the 2020 election, the NDA secured a majority in the assembly and won 125 seats, with Nitish Kumar again taking oath as Chief Minister. However, in August 2022, Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the BJP and resigned as Chief Minister, forming a government with the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan.
He had emerged as a key figure in the formation of the combined opposition I.N.D.I Alliance. However, Kumar’s romance with the RJD lasted for less than two years, and in January 2024, ahead of the parliamentary polls, Kumar returned to the NDA.
BJP improved its position between the 2015 and 2020 polls. It won 53 of 157 seats it contested in 2015 and 74 of 110 seats in 2020. JD-U saw a dip in its performance in the last two polls. It won 71 seats of 101 it contested in 2015 and 43 of 115 in 2020. Congress also saw a decline in performance from 27 seats it won in 2015 to 19 in 2020.
(With inputs from ANI)
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