How BJP, Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and RJD performed in 2020 Bihar elections as exit polls predict sweep for NDA

Bihar Results 2025: Less than 24 hours are now left for the Bihar assembly election results, as the stage is set for the counting of votes for 243 seats.

Most exit polls have predicted 140 or more seats for the NDA, which comprises five parties: the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal United (JDU), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAMS). Whereas, Today's Chanakya and Poll Diary have predicted a clear sweep.

Pradeep Gupta-led Axis My India has forecast that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will emerge as the single largest party.

In a matter of a few hours, it will be clear whether the exit polls are accurate and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar will secure a record fifth term or Bihar will witness a change in government. However, as exit polls forecast a clean sweep for the NDA, let's examine how the political parties performed in the 2020 assembly elections.

In the 2020 elections, the NDA narrowly returned to power against a strong challenge from the RJD-led alliance.

BJP's performance in 2020

The Saffron Party contested 110 seats and won 74 seats, securing a vote share of 19.46%. The deposit of three candidates was forfeited.

Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United)

The JD(U) contested 115 seats and won 43 seats with a 15.39% vote share. Five candidates also lost their deposits.

This year, both the BJP and JD(U) contested for 101 seats each, and most exit polls have predicted that the latter is expected to perform better.

RJD's performance in 2020

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) fielded candidates for 144 seats and won 75 seats, securing a 23.11% vote share. Only one candidate had lost the deposit.

How did Congress perform?

The Congress party contested 70 seats. However, despite receiving 9.48% of the votes, only 19 candidates from the party won elections, and the deposits of four candidates were forfeited.

How did other political parties perform?

— HAMS fielded candidates for seven seats and won four seats. It got 0.89%of the votes.

— Vikassheel Insaan Party (VSIP) contested 13 seats and won 4 seats.

— CPI(ML)(L) contested 19 seats and won 12 seats. It polled 3.16%of the votes.

— Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM contested 20 seats and won five of them, securing 1.24%of the votes.

— Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Lok Janshakti Party(LJP) contested for 78 and 135 seats, respectively. However, both parties were able to win only one seat.

— CPI and CPIM won two seats each.

— The then undivided NCP and RLSP contested 80 and 99 seats respectively, but neither of them could open an account.

— 1,299 candidates also contested polls as independents, but only one of them won the election.

— 1.68%of voters also opted for NOTA, which accounted for 7,06,295 votes.