Bihar elections: NDA crosses exit polls predictions, How Nitish Kumar pulled India's poorest state out of ‘Jungle Raj’?

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is currently leading in Bihar, buoyed by the popularity of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If trends hold, they are on track to surpass the 2010 record when the NDA won 206 seats.

The ongoing results reflect strong voter confidence in Nitish Kumar and PM Modi, with the alliance heading toward another historic victory.

Bihar assembly elections: Here's what early trends indicate

In the current trends, the Nitish Kumar-led NDA has secured a combined total of 196 seats, with the BJP leading in 88, JDU in 79, LJP in 21, HAM in 4 and RLM in 4, as per data from the EC at 12:52 PM.

RJD leads in 31 seats, Congress leads in 4, CPI(ML) leads in 5, while CPI-M leads in 1 and VIP in 0 seats each, taking the total to 41, as per data from the EC at 12:52 PM.

Additionally, the BSP is ahead in one seat, and the AIMIM in five seats.

What was Jungle Raj?

The “Jungle Raj” era in Bihar, spanning from 1990 to 2005 under Lalu Prasad Yadav and later his wife, Rabri Devi, was a dark chapter in the history of governance collapse and societal breakdown. It was marked with massacres by caste-based private armies, such as Bara (1992) and Laxmanpur Bathe (1997), with little judicial recourse.

How did Atal Bihari Vajpayee view Jungle Raj?

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of India from 1998 to 2004 (overlapping with the peak of “Jungle Raj” under Rabri Devi), stated that the incidents were a national embarrassment and a failed state within the Union.

Vajpayee further warned that their (Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi) anarchy threatened India's democratic credibility.

In 2003, while addressing a public gathering in Patna, Vajpayee said, “Bihar mein jungle raj chal raha hai… yeh sirf Bihar ka nahi, poore desh ka sawal hai” (Jungle Raj prevails in Bihar… this is not just Bihar's issue, but the nation's).

Vajpayee often slammed the Rabri Devi government for protecting criminals and destroying institutions, citing the kidnapping epidemic and caste killings.

How Nitish Kumar pulled Bihar out of Jungle Raj?

Nitish Kumar assumed the role of Chief Minister of Bihar in November 2005, inheriting a state synonymous with “Jungle Raj”.

What changed?

Within his first term, Nitish restored law and order as the foundation for all other reforms. Nitish established fast-track courts dedicated to heinous crimes, leading to the conviction of over 100,000 criminals between 2005 and 2010, compared to just 20,000 in the entire previous decade and a half.

High-profile cases, such as the Bara massacre, were resolved within months rather than decades. He overhauled the police system by recruiting nearly 70,000 new personnel, doubling the force, upgrading weaponry, increasing salaries, and constructing over 1,000 new police stations.

The results were stark: kidnappings for ransom fell from 411 in 2004 to 66 in 2010, and the murder rate dropped from 11.4 to 6.2 per 100,000 people, according to National Crime Records Bureau data.

For the first time in years, industrialists, teachers, and doctors began returning to Bihar.

Construction of roads, infrastructure projects

Bihar has seen an extensive focus on road infrastructure through various state and central government schemes. Key programmes include the Chief Minister Gram Sampark Yojana and the JP Ganga Path project.

The building programme, constructing over 50,000 kilometres of all-weather pucca roads between 2005 and 2015, connected every village with a population above 500, according to a report by the Bihar Road Construction Dept.

Electricity and schools

Bihar’s road density surged past the national average.

Electricity, once a rarity, reached nearly 20,000 villages, and per capita power consumption quadrupled from 70 kWh in 2005 to over 300 kWh by 2015.

“Per capita electricity consumption in Bihar rose from 70 kWh in 2005–06 to 311 kWh in 2014–15, with 14,000+ new villages electrified under RGGVY and state schemes,” according to the CEA Annual Report 2015 & Bihar Economic Survey 2015–16.

Education

Nitish Kumar focused on building 70,000 new classrooms and hired 300,000 teachers, while introducing the pioneering bicycle scheme for schoolgirls, which boosted female secondary enrollment from 300,000 to 1.8 million, according to NITI Aayog Evaluation Report (2017).

The return of a confident, coordinated BJP-JD(U) alliance has significantly reshaped the battlefield this time. With Prime Minister Modi standing firmly beside Nitish Kumar throughout the campaign, the coalition projected a united and reinvigorated front, emphasising welfare delivery, infrastructure expansion, social schemes, and administrative stability.

Bihar, India's third most populous state and one that is nearly 89% rural, has long played a critical role in shaping national politics. The NDA leadership has attributed the current mandate to the state's strong rural support base and what it describes as Bihar's “vote for dignity and self-respect.”

Nitish Kumar's political life

Nitish Kumar's political trajectory, spanning more than four decades, has often been cited as a study in adaptability and strategic clarity.

Rising through the JP movement of the mid-1970s, he went on to contest the Harnaut Assembly seat in 1985 under the leadership of Satyendra Narain Sinha of the Janata Party and emerged as a significant voice for backward castes and secular politics.

Kumar's political journey reflects his adaptability and strategic acumen. Inspired by political veterans such as Ram Manohar Lohia, SN Sinha, Karpuri Thakur, and VP Singh, he sharpened his skills during the JP movement (1974-1977) alongside Jayaprakash Narayan.

This formative experience not only shaped his political outlook but also earned him recognition among some of the most influential figures in Indian politics.

(With inputs from ANI)