Patna (Bihar) [India], November 14 : Ahead of the counting of votes for the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Guru Prakash Paswan on Friday expressed confidence in the NDA securing a strong mandate in the state.
"We have trust that following the good governance in Bihar for 20 years, NDA will be forming the government in Bihar again with a two-thirds majority and the foundation of 'Viksit Bharat' will be laid by 'Viksit Bihar'," Paswan told ANI.
BJP candidate from Bankipur and Bihar Minister Nitin Nabin also echoed the confidence in the NDA camp predicting a landslide win.
"We are all confident that this time, the NDA seat tally will be near that of the 2010 elections. NDA is going to form the Government...We will get 200 plus seat. They (RJD) are still not able to let go of their mindset of 'jungle raj'. RJD is the symbol of 'jungle raj'."
Bihar enters the verdict stage as vote counting is set to begin at 8 am, alongside bypolls in eight assembly segments across six states and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which saw bypolls for their respective vacant seats.
The Bihar Assembly Election voting took place in two phases, on November 6 and November 11. The counting for the 243 Bihar assembly polls will be conducted today. The winner will be declared on the same evening.
This is the first assembly election in the country in two decades, which was conducted following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
The elections set several records, achieving the highest polling in both phases. The overall polling percentage for the two phases was 67.13 %. This is the highest voter turnout recorded in the State since 1951, according to the Election Commission.
The first phase saw a voter turnout of 65.06% while the second phase of polling in Bihar saw a record voter turnout of 69.20%, the highest in the state's history.
The main electoral contest in the Bihar elections is between the National Democratic Alliance and Mahagathbandhan.
The exit polls predicted that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is poised to form the government again in Bihar.
The 2015 polls, held a year after the BJP-led government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to office at the Centre, were fought together by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U).
RJD emerged as the single largest party in 2015 elections winning 80 seats followed by JD(U) with 71. The two parties formed the government along with the Congress and other allies. However, the alliance was short-lived, with Nitish Kumar walking out and joining the NDA and again forming a government with the support of the BJP in 2017.
In the 2020 election, NDA got 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 and formed the government with the of RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan. He had emerged as a key figure in the formation of the combined opposition INDIA bloc. However, Kumar's romance with the RJD lasted short of two years and in January 2024 and ahead of the parliamentary polls Kumar walked back 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. Rashtriya Janata Dal has also shown a strong performance, having won 80 of 101 seats it contested in 2015 and 75 of 144 seats it put up candidates in the 2020 polls.
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.
In 2015, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was the dominant party in terms of high-margin victories, having secured 29 seats with a margin greater than 15%.
In 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the most high-margin seats, securing 19 seats by a margin greater than 15%.