The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) took a narrow lead over the INDIA bloc, known as the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, across several constituencies in very early trends shortly after counting of votes in the Bihar assembly elections 2025 began at 8 am on Friday.
Bihar election results: L | CM Nitish Kumar and PM Modi of the NDA and R | Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav of the Mahagathbandhan(PTI photos)
While the NDA was ahead, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Mahagathbandhan appeared to be giving a neck-and-neck fight and was not very far behind. The At 8:40 am, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead on at least 35 seats, while the RJD led on over 30 seats.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) began counting of votes with postal ballots first. The early leads are not necessarily an indication of the final outcome, with a clearer picture of the statewide trend expected to emerge as EVM votes are tallied through the day. Follow Bihar election results live updates
Among the leading candidates was Tejashwi Yadav, who is fighting the elections from the Raghopur constituency.
The Bihar assembly elections took place in two phases on November 6 and November 14, recording an overall polling percentage of 67.13 per cent – 65.08 per cent in Phase 1 and 69.20 per cent in Phase 2, the highest state has seen in elections since 1951, according to the ECI.
Bihar assembly elections 2025
The main contenders in the Bihar elections 2025 are the NDA of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United) mainly and the Mahagathbandhan, whose main parties are the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.
The simple majority mark in the 243-seat Bihar assembly elections is 122.
While Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial face is Tejashwi Yadav, the NDA has not announced a name but supporters believe it will be CM Nitish Kumar again and a section believes the alliance could float a surprise.
In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, the NDA narrowly retained power with a slender majority, winning 125 of the 243 seats. BJP emerged as the dominant partner in the alliance with 74 seats, while chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) secured 43.
The Opposition Mahagathbandhan, led by Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD, put up a strong fight, bagging 110 seats and emerging as the single-largest party.
The five-year tenure of the current Bihar assembly saw two flipflops by JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar, who in August 2022 broke away from the NDA and tied up with the RJD, making Tejashwi Yadav his deputy, and in January 2024 again switched to the NDA.
Most exit polls projected a comfortable NDA win in Bihar assembly elections 2025, but some – like Axis My India – predicted a tough fight with a narrow edge to the BJP-JD(U) combine over the Mahagathbandhan.
