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Bihar Poll trends: Grand Alliance falters despite Tejashwi’s promises; NDA dominates
It appears that Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is expected to get fewer seats compared to the 2020 elections, failed to expand its vote base
New Delhi: The Tejashwi Yadav-led Grand Alliance (GA) has failed to make a decisive mark, with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) heading for a thumping majority in the 243-member state assembly, trends showed.
It appears that Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is expected to get fewer seats compared to the 2020 elections, failed to expand its vote base beyond its traditional Muslim–Yadav (MY) support, which constitutes about 34% of the state’s population.
Tejashwi tried to expand his social base by wooing Kushwaha and Koeri voters by giving them a good number of tickets, but counting trends show the experiment failed. The GA’s vote share was about 37%, compared to 48% for the NDA, which appears to have secured the majority of votes from all castes other than MY.
During the elections, Tejashwi tried to woo voters with a host of promises such as a government job for every family, ₹2,500 per month for every woman in the state, ₹30,000 as monthly salary to Jeevika Didis, and ₹30,000 one-time assistance to women to counter Nitish’s ₹20,000 seed money scheme for new businesses. To broaden his caste base, he also promised a ₹5 lakh interest-free loan to deprived castes such as barbers, potters, and carpenters.
These promises were countered by the NDA, which claimed they were impossible to implement, and it appeared that people had more trust in Nitish Kumar’s delivery of schemes than in Tejashwi’s lofty promises.
Even though Tejashwi addressed more than 100 rallies across the state, there was no other leader in the party to complement his effort. His father and former chief minister (CM), Lalu Prasad, had limited presence in the polls, with just one roadshow in the Danapur assembly constituency in Patna district.
There was also some chagrin on the ground over differences within Lalu Prasad’s family. Tejashwi’s elder brother Tej Pratap was expelled from the party before the polls, and his sister, Rohini Acharya, posted cryptic messages about party decisions during the elections, apparently expressing her discontent against Tejashwi’s trusted lieutenant, Sanjay Yadav, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP.
The NDA leaders made full use of the political fodder provided by Lalu’s family during the campaign and repeatedly reminded voters about the “jungle raj” during Lalu’s tenure as chief minister. This resonated with voters, especially those above 40 years of age, who had faced law-and-order issues during his rule.
Moreover, the GA was not able to create a narrative against chief minister Nitish Kumar on the ground, even though Tejashwi remained popular among MY voters. GA voters, including Yadavs and Muslims, rarely spoke ill of Nitish Kumar, indicating that there was no anti-incumbency against the CM.
Many political commentators felt that Tejashwi lacked the energy he had shown in the 2020 polls during the 2025 campaign. He was missing from the ground for a long period when the Grand Alliance partners were squabbling over ticket distribution, while rivals were busy campaigning. The RJD’s social media push for its promises was considered weak, and it was also unable to counter the pre-poll money distributed by the Bihar government on the ground.
