NDA Set For Landslide Win As Bihar Results Tighten

New Delhi, November 14: Bihar’s vote count has been crawling through the day, but the picture has only grown sharper with every round. The NDA is not just ahead. It is dominating the 2025 Assembly election in a way few in Patna’s political circles had predicted with a straight face even 48 hours ago.

NDA Pulls Far Ahead As Early Leads Harden

The chatter around counting centres through the morning had the same refrain: the ruling National Democratic Alliance was steadily widening its edge, seat after seat, block after block. Reports from AP News put the alliance at roughly 208 seats, with the BJP alone steering close to 95. NDTV’s trend lines hovered around the same neighbourhood, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, but always pointing to a clear, almost unchallenged sweep.

Here’s the thing. Pollsters and political strategists had cautiously pegged the NDA tally below 170. By noon, that caution looked almost quaint. Trends across the 243 seats began tilting the map so sharply that party workers at several counting centres started celebrating long before officials permitted it.

Mahagathbandhan Stuck In Single-Lane Traffic

If the NDA’s march looked effortless, the Mahagathbandhan (MGB) seemed stuck in mud. The RJD–Congress combine, once believed to hold the emotional pulse of Bihar’s young voters, simply couldn’t convert sentiment into hard numbers. Early trends placed them in barely 30 to 40 seats.

You could see it in the faces of party workers outside key RJD bastions. Some were angry, some numb. A few kept repeating that many rounds were left, but the tone didn’t sound convincing. The gulf was too wide, and the momentum too lopsided.

A Tight, Heavily Guarded Counting Day

Across Bihar’s 38 districts, counting unfolded under a blanket of CRPF deployment and state police supervision. Dozens of strongrooms, EVM units, postal ballot stacks, and makeshift media corners the Election Commission ran the process like clockwork.

Turnout had been a healthy 67.14 percent, and officials were quick to remind reporters that postal ballots and late-stage rounds could still nudge the numbers. But none of that altered the mood on the ground. The state seemed to know where this was headed.

Why Bihar Voted This Way

As it turns out, several threads came together. The NDA’s welfare pitch, especially on women’s empowerment, rural assistance, and continuity of governance, seems to have landed with unusual clarity. Grassroots field reports over the past week consistently hinted at this undercurrent.

There was also the unmissable duo at the centre of the coalition: Nitish Kumar and the national leadership of the BJP. For many voters, despite the familiar criticisms of unemployment and migration, the question boiled down to familiarity, predictability and trust. Bihar, like many states in recent cycles, rewarded the known over the promised.

The MGB’s message, meanwhile, never quite broke through. Their attempt to recast the election around youth unemployment, social justice, and anti-incumbency was strong on stage and social media but didn’t translate evenly on the ground. Caste arithmetic helped in pockets but not enough to beat the wide nets cast by the NDA in the OBC and SC categories.

Celebrity Candidates Become A Subplot

The election also had its share of celebrity names, the kind Bihar loves to watch. Maithili Thakur, the singer-turned-BJP face, looked firmly ahead. On the other side, Khesari Lal Yadav, the Bhojpuri star fielded by the RJD, was struggling to hold ground. It made for an interesting contrast in a campaign season where personality had briefly threatened to overshadow policy.

What This Result Means For Bihar

If these leads hold and all indications suggest they will the NDA will return with a commanding mandate. That puts the spotlight directly on Nitish Kumar, likely to continue his remarkably long run as chief minister.

A win of this scale could give the government space to attempt deeper reforms in sectors where Bihar has historically lagged. Infrastructure, jobs, skilling, and health services are all areas where expectations will rise sharply. A giant mandate can feel empowering on day one, but it becomes a heavy burden very quickly if people don’t see change on the ground.

What It Means Nationally

This is where the implications stretch beyond Patna. Bihar is India’s third-largest state, and an NDA sweep here strengthens the BJP’s political spine across the Hindi-belt. It also raises questions for opposition parties already scattered across ideological lines and struggling to build coherent national messaging.

For the Congress, this is yet another state where its support base has thinned. For the RJD, whose top leadership staked much on a youthful push, this result will spark difficult conversations about strategy, narrative, and electoral math.

And for the national opposition bloc, this will sting. Hard.

The Road Ahead

Still, counting isn’t over. Late rounds in Bihar have produced surprises before, and officials continue to caution against calling races until the ECI publishes official declarations. But everyone around this election party workers, bureaucrats, analysts seems to be reading the same map.

Here’s what to watch over the next few hours and days:

• The exact final tally for each party in the NDA and MGB
• Whether the NDA’s seat share crests above 210
• Statements from Nitish Kumar, BJP leaders, and Tejashwi Yadav
• Any legal objections or recount requests in tight constituencies
• Negotiations inside the ruling alliance on cabinet portfolios and leadership roles

For now, Bihar appears to have issued one of its clearest mandates in more than a decade. The state has narrowed the field, chosen continuity, and handed the NDA not just a victory, but a message to carry into the next national cycle.

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Ananya Sharma

Senior Political Correspondent – Ananya@hindustanherald.in – Web

Covers Indian politics, governance, and policy developments with over a decade of experience in political reporting.

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NDA Surges Toward a Commanding Win as Bihar Results Tighten

NDA Pulls Far Ahead As Early Leads Harden