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Patna, Oct 14 (IANS): The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) finalized its seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections after days of intense talks and vowed to keep the opposition-led grand alliance at bay in the state’s political circles.
As per the agreed formula, both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) [JDU] Each will contest 101 seats, while the remaining 41 seats have been allotted to smaller NDA allies. Among these, Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest on 29 seats, while Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) will contest on six seats each.
With the seat distribution finalised, the selection of candidates is expected to be announced soon, following which a full-fledged campaign will be conducted across the state.
The NDA government was first formed in November 2005, marking a turning point in the political and administrative landscape of Bihar. Since then, both the BJP and JDU have built an impressive electoral track record in the state.
Another notable point of nearly two decades of NDA rule in Bihar has been the steady rise and dominance of the BJP in the state and the alliance. In the current assembly elections, the BJP and JD(U) are contesting 101 seats each, a first in the hard-dealing seat-sharing.
In the 2005 assembly elections, the BJP contested 102 seats and won 55 seats with a strike rate of 53%, while the JDU contested 139 seats and won 88 seats.
NDA recorded its best performance in the 2010 assembly elections.
BJP once again contested 102 seats and won 91 seats, achieving a remarkable strike rate of 89%, while JDU contested 141 seats and won 115 seats.
The first term of the Nitish Kumar government (2005–2010) is often described as the “golden phase” in the governance of Bihar, as the state began its recovery from the so-called “Jungle Raj” era.
The administration under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi introduced several reforms focused on governance, infrastructure and women empowerment.
In particular, 50% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institutions (2006) and urban local bodies (2007) significantly increased the NDA’s popularity among women voters.
This widespread support helped the NDA achieve a landslide victory in 2010.
However, the political equations changed in 2013, when Nitish Kumar parted ways with the BJP following the announcement of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Despite the strong “Modi wave” in 2014, which led the BJP to a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the scenario changed in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections. Nitish Kumar formed a grand alliance by joining hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s party RJD and Congress.
In that election, JDU and RJD contested 100 seats each and won 69 and 80 seats respectively, while BJP was pushed into the opposition. It won only 54 seats.
However, in 2017, Nitish Kumar once again broke ties with RJD citing corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav and returned to NDA.
In the 2020 assembly elections, the NDA—comprising BJP, JDU, HAM and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP)—contested the elections together.
JDU, which contested on 115 seats, performed poorly and won only 43 seats with a strike rate of 37%.
A major factor behind its setback was Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which fielded candidates on 137 seats, many of which overlapped with JDU constituencies. LJP’s presence divided JDU’s vote share, seriously impacting its results – an issue that Nitish Kumar himself has raised several times in public forums.
The BJP, on the other hand, contested 110 seats and won 74 seats with an impressive strike rate of 67%, and emerged as the stronger NDA partner in the 2020 elections.
Political analysts believe that three forces in Bihar—BJP, JDU and RJD—dominate the electoral landscape, and whichever two unite often emerge victorious.
In 2025, the same pattern is visible again, when BJP and JDU will contest the elections together under the NDA banner against the RJD-led Grand Alliance.
However, this time, Chirag Paswan’s party is firmly in the NDA fold, eliminating the vote-splitting factor that had plagued the alliance in 2020.
Apart from the NDA and the Grand Alliance, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM are also contesting the elections and are expected to influence the results in several constituencies by cutting into the vote banks of both the NDA and the Grand Alliance.
As the campaign gathers pace, Bihar appears headed for a closely contested and high-stakes election, with the NDA confident of its governance record and unity, while the opposition looks to take advantage of the anti-incumbency wave and local issues.
ends.
–IANS
AJK/Mr.