Bihar Phase 1 Flashback: In 2020, RJD won 42 of 121 seats voting today, BJP 32, JD(U) 23

Bihar Phase 1 Voting: Voting for 121 seats across 18 districts is taking place in the first phase of the Bihar Elections 2025 today.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition’s Mahagathbandhan alliance are the main players. The ruling NDA comprises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United), among other parties. The Mahagathbandhan, or the Grand Alliance, comprises the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress as its main parties.

As many as 3.75 crore voters will decide the fate of a total of 1,314 candidates. Top guns contesting today include Opposition's CM face Tejashwi Yadav, his brother Tej Pratap Yadav, Deputy CMs Samrat Chouhdary, Vijay Kumar Sinha, and Anant Singh, among others.

What happened in 2020 assembly polls?

In the 2020 assembly polls, the RJD had won 42 of the seats voting in the first phase. The BJP secured 32 seats, while the Janata Dal (United) won 23. The Congress had won 8, the Left parties won 11. The VIP bagged four seats. Chirag Paswan's LJP (RV) won one seat in 2020 from those voting in phase 1.

Overall, the NDA had won 56 seats while the Mahagathbandhan won 65 seats of 121 voting today.

In 2020, the BJP's vote share in these seats was about 17 per cent, the JD(U) had about the same vote share as the BJP. The RJD's vote share was, however, 23. 8 per cent while the Congress bagged 7.6 per cent votes in seats voting in Phase 1.

The turnout in 2020 was 55.81% in Phase 1 voting.

The richest candidate in the fray in Phase 1 is BJP leader Kumar Pranay, who is contesting from the Munger seat and has declared assets worth ₹170 Crore. Mojahid Alam, contesting on the SUCI(C) ticket from Darbhanga, is the poorest candidate in the race today. Alam has declared assets worth ₹1000.

The ruling NDA is seeking re-election, banking on the 20-year rule of Nitish Kumar in the state and the 11-year rule of the PM Narenrdra Modi government at the Centre. The opposition Mahagathbandhan is seeking votes on anti-incumbency, misgovernance and job promises.