Bihar Election 2025: After the Election Commission of India announced polling dates for the Bihar Assembly election – with voting for all 243 constituencies scheduled in two phases on November 6 and 11 – the state is burning with election fever.
From markets to chai stalls to paan shops, Bihar now hums with the pulse of politics, and NDA vs INDIA slogans have filled the air. “Raftaar pakad chuka Bihar, fir ek baar NDA sarkaar,” counters “6 aur 11, NDA nau do gyarah”.
Both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc have been trying hard to woo voters, from youth and women to the Muslim-Yadav voter base.
But before the people’s mandate, which will be announced on November 14 – Children’s Day – the birthday of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, let us take a look at the two alliances.
NDA vs INDIA
At the heart of the contest (read: poll) are two alliances – NDA and INDIA bloc.
NDA, led by the Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as its face. The alliance also includes Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM), Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha, and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
Facing them is the INDIA bloc, led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, with two-time deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav as its key face. Other alliance partners include left parties – Dipankar Bhattacharya’s Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), D Raja’s Communist Party of India, MA Baby’s Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahani.
Current political scenario
Bihar is currently governed by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA, following his exit from the Mahagathbandhan in 2024. At the time, Kumar reasoned that the “situation was not good”, which eventually led him to break ties with RJD and Congress.
After resigning as Chief Minister, Kumar switched camps and joined the NDA, taking oath for a record ninth term as Bihar’s CM. Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha took oath as his deputy chief ministers.
Kumar’s 2024 political flip, his fifth to be precise, made one thing crystal clear – he will change camps as many times as it takes to keep hold of the throne in Patna.
First coalition government in Bihar
Coalition politics in Bihar isn’t new and dates back to 1967, when Mahamaya Prasad Sinha took oath as the first Chief Minister of the first non-Congress government in Bihar. The government collapsed within 11 months due to internal rifts, but it set the tone for the decades of alliance-driven politics to come.
The first NDA government
The first NDA government in Bihar came to power largely by chance, after the February 2005 Assembly election delivered a fractured mandate. Although the RJD emerged as the single largest party, it couldn’t form the government. With no clear majority, President’s Rule was imposed, and fresh elections were conducted in October-November 2005.
During this election, Bihar voted decisively for change after years of being synonymous with corruption, casteism, and poverty under the RJD’s rule. JD(U) emerged as the single largest party, with 88 seats, followed by BJP with 55, RJD with 54 and Congress with just 9.
Together, JD(U) and BJP comfortably sailed through the majority mark and formed the first NDA government in the state. This government was led by Nitish Kumar, who ended RJD’s 15-year-long rule.
People soon started associating Kumar’s “Nyay ke Saath Vikas [Justice with development]” slogan with his governance model. He restored law and order in the state and focused on infrastructure and education. This helped JD(U) expand further, winning 115 seats in the next election.
The NDA again formed the government, and Kumar returned as the Chief Minister. The alliance won 206 seats, while the RJD won just 22. This, as per reports, was one of the fairest elections in the state with no poll violence or bloodshed.
But the calm didn’t last long.
When Narendra Modi was named the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate in 2013, Nitish Kumar walked out, famously declaring that he would “turn to dust” before returning to the BJP. The breakup proved costly to him as JD(U) won just two seats against 20 in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. After the 2014 election result, Kumar resigned, taking full responsibility for his party’s poor performance.
Jitan Ram Manjhi, whom many called “dummy CM”, led Bihar for just ten months. He was then asked to resign to make way for Kumar to return as the CM. When Manjhi refused, JD(U) expelled him from the party. He resigned before the vote of confidence could take place and went on to form his own faction – Hindustan Awam Morcha-Secular(HAM-S).
Mahagathbandhan’s brief stint
In 2015, Nitish Kumar stitched together the Mahagathbandhan with RJD and Congress, defeating the BJP. Tejashwi Yadav became his deputy.
However, just two years later, Kumar switched sides yet again due to the differences with RJD and returned to the NDA fold. Then came the 2019 Lok Sabha election, where the party won 16 seats – a number better than the single-digit win last election. By 2020, the BJP had emerged stronger with 74 seats, while the JD(U) slipped to 43, but Kumar still retained the CM’s chair.
Then came 2022 with another twist in Bihar politics. Kumar, who has earned the moniker “paltu Kumar”, dumped the NDA to form the INDIA bloc. The bloc’s foundation was laid during a rally by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Om Prakash Chautala on September 25, 2022. Nitish Kumar – who in 2022 said that all political parties should unite to defeat the BJP – presided over the first meeting and left the alliance after the fifth one.
The seasoned politician proved “Nitish sabke hain” after joining the NDA again, right before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Since the BJP fell short of the majority mark at the Centre, it formed the government with its allies, including the JD(U) and the Telugu Desam Party, which have won 12 and 16 seats, respectively.
Strengths and weaknesses of NDA
The NDA enters the Bihar polls with a well-oiled alliance structure and clear seat-sharing formula, with BJP and JD(U) contesting 101 seats each, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) taking 29, and Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Morcha six each. The coalition’s biggest strength lies in its wide caste outreach and its dual-engine government – “Brand Modi” and Nitish Kumar, who has been sitting on the throne in Patna since 2015.
Despite switching sides several times, Nitish Kumar is still seen by many as a leader who brought good governance to Bihar. The NDA is also banking on its 2024 performance, where JD(U) won 16 seats compared to RJD’s four.
However, issues like unemployment, poor roads, and migration continue to “rot” the state, and Kumar’s “Nyay ke Saath Vikaas” call seems to have “disappeared”. The BJP, too, is weaker than before, as it lost its clear majority in the 2024 General Election and is dependent on its allies more than ever.
Nitish Kumar’s repeated political U-turns could also weaken the NDA despite his loyal voter base.
Strengths and weaknesses of INDIA bloc
The INDIA bloc, led by RJD and Congress, banks heavily on its Muslim-Yadav voters. This coalition, along with the Left parties such as CPI, CPI(M), and CPI(ML), gives the alliance a solid organisational foundation. It has shifted its focus from welfare schemes to social justice, with its 10-point manifesto enlisting the expansion of reservations, the empowerment of EBCs, and the inclusion of marginalised groups.
However, the alliance is often viewed as reactive rather than presenting a clear, forward-looking vision for Bihar’s development.
Adding to its challenges is corruption associated with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. His involvement in the infamous fodder scam, the foundation of RJD and the subsequent appointment of his wife, Rabri Devi, as Bihar’s first woman Chief Minister in 1997 often overshadows the work of his youngest son, Tejashwi Yadav, the current face of the RJD.
Despite a strong showing in the last Assembly election, the INDIA bloc’s influence faded in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where the NDA secured 30 out of 40 seats in Bihar.
As Bihar gears up for another electoral showdown, the question remains – Will the NDA’s development narrative hold against the INDIA bloc’s social justice pitch?