#BiharResults: BJP Clinches Bihar, But 12 Nominees Fall; Congress Manages Only Six Victories

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delivered a near-sweep in the Bihar Assembly elections on November 14, 2025, with 89 of its 101 candidates securing victory and propelling the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) past 200 seats in the 243-member House. Despite the overwhelming dominance, 12 BJP nominees were defeated—several by razor-thin margins—revealing isolated pockets of resistance amid the saffron surge. The Election Commission’s final tally showed losses ranging from 30 votes in Ramgarh to 27,251 in Baisi, where AIMIM’s Ghulam Sarwar crushed BJP’s Vinod Kumar. Other narrow defeats included Chanpatia (602 votes), Forbesganj (221 votes), and Dhaka (178 votes), underscoring localised caste and community dynamics that occasionally defied the statewide NDA wave.

The opposition Congress, contesting 61 seats, managed only six wins—a sharp decline from 19 in 2020 and a vote share drop from 9.48% to roughly 8%. The victors were Surendra Prasad (Valmiki Nagar, margin 1,675 over JD(U)), Abhishek Ranjan (Chanpatia, 602 over BJP), Manoj Bishwas (Forbesganj, 221 over BJP), Abidur Rehman (Araria, 12,741 over JD(U)), Md Qamrul Hoda (Kishanganj, 12,794 over BJP), and Manohar Prasad Singh (margin 15,168 over an unspecified rival). These isolated triumphs highlighted Congress’s struggle to capitalise on anti-incumbency or alliance synergy with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which itself limped to around 25 seats.

High-profile BJP setbacks included Raghopur, where Satish Kumar lost to RJD leader and INDIA bloc CM candidate Tejashwi Yadav by 14,532 votes after a tense early count. In Saharsa, Alok Ranjan fell to the obscure Indian Inclusive Party’s Indrajeet Prasad Gupta by 2,038 votes, while Bina Devi finished third in Kochadhaman behind AIMIM and RJD candidates. Such outcomes reflected micro-level voter consolidation—often along Muslim or Yadava lines—that occasionally blunted the NDA’s momentum despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-decibel campaign and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) resurgence.

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The BJP’s 95% strike rate—the highest among major parties—underscored Modi’s enduring appeal in Bihar, a state critical to national politics with 40 Lok Sabha seats. The NDA’s landslide, projected at 200+ seats, defied pre-poll surveys predicting a tighter contest and silenced talk of Nitish Kumar’s waning influence at age 74. Celebrations erupted from Patna to Nagpur as BJP workers credited welfare schemes, infrastructure pushes, and a unified alliance for the mandate.

For Congress, the paltry haul triggered soul-searching. Internal seat-sharing discord with RJD led to friendly contests in several constituencies, diluting opposition votes. Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra fizzled post-launch, and his absence in the final phase left Tejashwi Yadav to shoulder the campaign alone. Party insiders blamed poor candidate selection and a failure to counter the NDA’s narrative of stability and development.

As the NDA prepares for government formation—with Nitish Kumar likely to retain the chief ministership—the results signal sustained BJP dominance in Hindi heartland politics. For the battered INDIA bloc, Bihar’s verdict demands strategic overhaul ahead of future battles, while the six Congress survivors offer faint hope amid a rout that reshapes Bihar’s political landscape for the next five years.

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