The ruling NDA alliance secured a landslide victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, capturing numerous seats previously held comfortably by the Rashtriya Janata Dal. In the 2020 elections, RJD had won 75 seats, including 47 with margins exceeding 10,000 votes and 45 with at least 40% vote share. This time, the party contested 73 of those seats but suffered heavy losses, surrendering 55 constituencies. The Janata Dal (United) alone captured more than 25 of these seats. RJD lost 31 seats where it had previously won by margins of at least 10,000 votes and four seats where its vote share had exceeded 50%. The party lost 24 seats despite maintaining over 40% vote share and 15 seats even after recording vote share increases. In total, 29 sitting RJD legislators were defeated, highlighting the scale of the setback for Tejashwi Yadav's party.
Heavy Losses Despite Strong 2020 Performance
RJD's defeat was particularly stark in constituencies where it had demonstrated strong support five years ago. The party lost four seats where its vote share exceeded 50% in 2020 and 24 seats despite retaining more than 40% of votes this time. In eight constituencies, RJD's vote share dropped by at least 10 percentage points. The steepest decline occurred in Gobindpur constituency in Nawada district, where the vote share fell by 21.71 percentage points. Remarkably, the party lost 15 seats even while recording an increase in vote share compared to 2020, indicating vote consolidation among opponents. The party had replaced its winning candidates from 2020 in 26 of the 55 lost seats, including Mokama, where strongman-turned-politician Anant Singh, now contesting on a JD(U) ticket, defeated RJD's replacement candidate despite being in jail.
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