The ruling NDA decimated the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar on Friday to retain power, reaffirming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's enduring appeal and dealing a body blow to the Congress and ally RJD.
The massive scale of the victory of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) can be gauged from the fact that its two main constituents—BJP and JD(U)—clocked a nearly 85 per cent strike rate in 101 seats each they had contested. The alliance secured a "200 paar" win for a three-fourths majority with the BJP emerging as the single largest party.
"The people of Bihar, with this massive victory and their unshakable confidence, have taken the state by storm (garda uda diya)," Prime Minister Modi told cheering party workers at the BJP headquarters in Delhi in the evening after accepting their greetings by waving a 'gamcha'.
While the BJP won 89 seats, up from 74 in 2020, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal(U) tasted success in 85 constituencies, up from 43. The majority mark in the 243-member Assembly is 122.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) seat tally slipped to 25 from 75, and Congress bagged only six out of the 61 seats it contested, down from 19.
Hailing the NDA's huge win, Prime Minister Modi said it has given a new 'MY -- Mahila and Youth' formula with the people destroying the "communal MY formula of the jungle raj people".
In an apparent reference to the Muslim-Yadav support base of the RJD, Modi said that in Bihar some parties had formulated an "MY formula" but today's victory has given a new "positive MY -- Mahila and Youth" formula.
Overcoming anti-incumbency, Chief Minister Kumar thanked the people of the state for giving a "landslide" victory for the NDA.
"People of the state have expressed their confidence in our government by giving us a landslide mandate in the polls. For this, I bow to all the esteemed voters of the state, and express my heartfelt gratitude and thanks," Kumar wrote in a post on X. He also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Modi for his continuous support to the NDA government in the state.
A mix of state and central welfare schemes, including the monetary aid to women as part of the NDA's women-centric outreach, a constant reminder of the "jungle raj" during the RJD rule by Modi and other NDA campaigners, and the viability of a double-engine government appears to have largely contributed to their landslide victory.
Navigating the complex caste and community dynamics, NDA's wider caste alliance that dented the Mahagatbandhan's core vote bank, multiple welfare schemes targeted at Economically Backward Class (EBC) households, huge support from women who overwhelmingly supported the liquor ban, and from young voters also helped the five-party alliance.
One of the most striking features of this election was the extraordinary turnout of women voters.
The NDA also appeared to have done well in Muslim-dominated constituencies, signalling a possible change in voting pattern in these segments.
Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), dubbed the 'X factor' in the Bihar polls and whose candidates were in the fray in all but three of the seats, came a cropper.
The party, floated by the former political strategist, failed to galvanise votes in its favour, despite a high-pitched campaign and raising pressing issues such as unemployment, migration and dearth of industries.
Celebrations erupted at the offices of the BJP and JD(U) in Patna, situated across the street from each other, with workers playing drums, bursting firecrackers and chanting slogans in praise of their respective leaders.
In front of the residence of the chief minister, the JD(U)'s 75-year-old national president, party workers posed for photographs holding aloft posters with the caption 'Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai'.
'Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai'—the title of a Bollywood blockbuster—neatly captured the gist of Chief Minister Kumar's "neither tired nor in a mood to retire" stance.
Shocking his rivals, Kumar, an electrical engineering graduate, had a point to prove in the latest assembly elections, which were held amid speculation of a fatigue factor, if not downright anti-incumbency, made worse by rumours of his indifferent health.
He is Bihar's longest serving chief minister, whilst also holding the post for his 9th term.
In the run-up to the high stakes polls, Kumar, who has earned the nickname of 'sushasan babu' (the man of good governance), aggressively doled out benefits like hike in social security pensions and stipends for Jeevika and Aasha and Aanganwadi workers, besides the much touted 'Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana', as part of which over one crore women have got Rs 10,000 each in their bank accounts.
Kumar was not in the electoral fray this time too as he has consistently taken the legislative council route to enter the state legislature.
BJP's performance would further cement its position as the numero uno political force in the country and also offset whatever setback that might have been caused by last year's Lok Sabha polls when the party had to rely on allies to remain in power in the Centre.
The NDA's tally in Bihar comes in the backdrop of the BJP's back-to-back stunning performances in Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana. Last year, the BJP had won 132 of the 149 seats it had contested in Maharashtra.
The strong backing to Chief Minister Kumar by Modi and his ministers during their poll campaign also appeared to have paid rich dividends for the JD(U).
The LJP(RV), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, the self-declared "Hanuman" of the Prime Minister, which was left with only 28 candidates in the fray, with nomination papers of one of its nominees getting rejected during scrutiny, won 19 seats.
Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwah's Rashtriya Lok Morcha, both junior partners in the NDA, won five and four seats respectively. Both parties had contested six seats each. To consolidate Dalit support, the BJP banked on its two key allies—Manjhi and Paswan.
The Mahagathbandhan, which includes the RJD, the Congress and three Left parties, faced a crushing defeat, notwithstanding surveys and opinion polls showing its Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav as the most preferred leader for the top post.
Yadav, who according to Prime Minister Modi was declared a chief ministerial candidate after the RJD put a "katta" on the head of its alliance partners, was trailing initially before he recovered ground in Raghopur, the RJD stronghold. He defeated BJP candidate Satish Kumar by 14,532 votes.
Mahagatbahndhan also struggled to retain its strongholds. The Muslim and Yadav (M-Y) combination traditionally formed the bedrock of the RJD's support base in Bihar.
It was an embarrassing loss of face for the Congress, often seen as a "weak link" in the INDIA bloc. Rahul Gandhi's poll campaign against the BJP that revolved around his "Vote Chori" (vote theft) allegations failed to garner any support.
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owais's AIMIM, which has often been accused of being a "B-team" of the BJP, won five seats. The party had contested 32 seats.
Indian Inclusive Party got one seat with its Saharsa candidate Indrajeet Prasad Gupta defeating BJP's Alok Ranjan.
The NDA's victory in the Bihar polls, which were held in two phases amid alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls by the Election Commission, is also significant as many see it as a prelude to assembly polls in West Bengal and Assam, scheduled to be held in the next six months.
