Bihar BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal on Friday, November 14, stated that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is receiving strong public support in the 2025 assembly elections. Speaking to ANI, Jaiswal said the NDA fought the Bihar polls under the leadership and name of Nitish Kumar.
Jaiswal said, "It was evident from the faces of the public that NDA is getting a mandate this time. NDA is going to form the government again. The leaders of NDA have put in a lot of effort, whether it is Nitish Kumar, Chirag Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Upendra Kushwaha, PM Modi, JP Nadda, HM Amit Shah or Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. We fought elections on the face of Nitish Kumar with the slogan '2025, phir se Nitish’,”
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As vote counting began for the Bihar Assembly elections, early trends showed the ruling NDA crossing the halfway mark of 122, strengthening its lead over the Mahagathbandhan. At 9:30 am, the NDA was ahead in 172 seats, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar–led Janata Dal (United) leading in 75 and 76 seats, respectively. JD(U) has sustained an impressive conversion rate of over 75 %, while the BJP has recorded a 74 % conversion rate.
The Mahagathbandhan was trailing, leading in only 67 seats. Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD was ahead in 50 seats, but its allies showed weak early performances. Congress led in 14 seats, while CPI(ML) Liberation was ahead in just three. Within the alliance, RJD had the highest conversion rate at 35 per cent.
Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj was leading in three seats, and AIMIM was ahead in one. Among key candidates, Tejashwi Yadav was leading in Raghopur, while BJP’s Samrat Choudhary and Maithili Thakur were ahead in Tarapur and Alinagar, respectively.
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Vote counting began at 8 am under heavy security, starting with postal ballots. With 4,372 tables and 18,000 agents deployed, the process is closely monitored. Most exit polls favour the NDA. As per the ECI's official press note, 2,616 candidates from 12 parties contested, and no repolling was requested.
In the 2020 elections, the NDA won a majority with 125 seats, leading to Nitish Kumar’s return as Chief Minister. However, in August 2022, he ended the alliance with the BJP, resigned, and formed a new government with the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan.
Nitish Kumar had emerged as a key figure in the formation of the combined opposition INDIA bloc.
