Bihar 2025: Was this BJP’s best or RJD’s worst? The numbers reveal the truth

Bihar Election 2025 Results: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), scripted a landslide victory by winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly. The Mahagathbandhan alliance led by the RJD won 35 seats.

Among the NDA, the BJP won 89 seats, emerging as the single largest party, followed by the JD(U) with 85 seats. The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP-RV) secured 19 seats, while its two other allies won 9 seats.

In the Opposition camp, the RJD won 25 seats while the Congress won just six seats.

Was this the NDA’s best performance or the RJD’s worst? The answer is no. The NDA has secured bigger victories in the past, and the RJD has also delivered poorer performances in the past. 2020 Bihar Assembly Election is a recent example

What happened in 2010 Bihar Assembly Election?

The 2010 Bihar election delivered a historic win for the Nitish Kumar–led NDA, which at that time consisted of the JD(U) (Janata Dal–United) and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)

In 2010, the NDA won 206 seats, one of the biggest mandates in Bihar’s history. The NDA comprised of the BJP and the JD (U)

The Janata Dal (United), led by Nitish Kumar, won 115 seats, the BJP, then led by Sushil Modi, won 91 seats, while the RJD, then led by Rabri Devi, bagged 22 seats. The JD-U vote share was 22.58 per cent, while the BJP bagged 16.5 per cent of the votes. The RJD got 18.84 per cent votes in the 2010 assembly elections.

The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had won 3 seats with 6.7 per cent vote share in 2010. The party had fought on 75 seats.

The BJP and the JD (U) were part of the NDA. The JD(U) had contested 141 seats, while the BJP fielded candidates on 102 seats.

The RJD and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), then led by Ram Vilas Paswan, were part of the RJD-led opposition alliance.

The Congress, which contested 243 seats, won just 4 seats with 8.37 per cent vote share.

What did the 2010 election results mean?

The RJD's performance in 2010 with 22 seats dealt a major blow to Lalu Prasad Yadav's political dominance in Bihar. The Congress contested alone and remained marginal.

Nitish Kumar, however, won with a massive mandate for his party. It was the first major verdict for Kumar's good governance and 'Sushasan Babu' image. Bihar saw improvements in roads, law and order and women's empowerment in Nitish's previous tenure. The result also marked the shifting away from the RJD rule, solidifying Nitish Kumar's reputation as the face of the Bihar governance model.

With the massive mandate, Nitish Kumar returned as CM for his second consecutive term and third term overall.

Clearly, in both 2010 and 2025, the BJP won almost 9 out of every 10 seats it contested – an extraordinarily high strike rate.