Of the 121 Assembly seats going to the polls in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly election on November 6, both the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) are evenly poised to win, as was the case in the 2020 Assembly election.
In 2020, 61 seats were won bythe mahagathbandhan while the NDA won 59 seats. One seat — Matihani in Begusarai district — went to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate Raj Kumar Singh, who later left the LJP to join the Janata Dal-United (JD-U). However, this time, former poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s newly floated Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) could alter expectations in some seats.
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“Both the contesting blocs are locked in a very tight and tough position, with almost equal number of seats in their kitty. But this time, Mr. Kishor’s JSP could foil the chances of some of the candidates at some places,” political analyst Nawal Kishore Choudhary said.
When asked which bloc’s electoral chances Mr. Kishor’s party was likely to harm more, Mr. Choudhary said, “Let’s wait for the announcement of the names of his party’s candidates on the seats, and it will be clear.”
The JSP is going to announce the first list of its candidates on Thursday (October 9).
The JSP, which was founded on October 2, 2024 with the ‘school bag’ as its party symbol is pushing hard to encroach upon Bihar’s electoral landscape as a third alternative with its campaign on people-focused issues, including unemployment, migration, and corruption.
As things stand, candidates are likely to face a tough fight in every seat contested in the first phase of the upcoming election. Both the ruling JD(U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA, and the Opposition RJD and Congress-led mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) blocs are wooing voters to maximise the benefits of their caste calculus and chemistry.
The buzz in the State’s political circles, meanwhile, centres on Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav, also the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, and whether he will contest the election from two seats — the party’s traditional Raghopur constituency in Vaishali district, where Mr. Yadav won in 2015 and 2020, and Phulparas in Madhubani, where Muslims (13.30%) and Yadav (17.30%) voters are in sizeable numbers.
In the 2020 Assembly election, the JD(U)‘s Sheela Kumari had won the Phulparas seat by defeating the Congress’s Kripa Nath Pathak by over 10,000 votes.
Traditionally, Phulparas has voted for socialist leaders.
The RJD has not made any official comment on the possibility of Mr. Yadav contesting from two seats this time.
The 2020 Assembly election in Bihar was held in three phases, with 71, 94, and 78 seats going to the polls in their respective phases.
Some of the sets won by the BJP in the 2020 election were Saharsha, Darbhanga, Hayaghat, Keoti, Begusarai, Munger, Lakhisarai, Ara, Patna Sahib, Kumhrar, and Bankipore, among others. Its ally, the JD(U)‘s candidates were victorious in Alamnagar, Bihariganj, Vaishali, Kalyanpur, Mahishi, Parbatta, Tarapur, Barbigha, Nalanda, and Harnaut, among others.
In 2020, the Opposition RJD bagged Hathua, Madhepura, Simri-Bakhtiyarpur, Darbhanga (rural), Mokama, Sheikhpura, Raghopur, Hasanpur, and Ujjiyarpur, among others. Its alliance partner, the Congress, won Muzaffarpur, Maharajganj, Jamlapur, Bikram, and Buxar, among others.
Their allies, the Left parties, also won several seats in the 2020 Assembly election. The Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) won Ziradei, Darauli, Paliganj, Tarari, Dumraon, and others. The Communist Party of India (CPI) won Teghra and Bakhari, and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) won Manjhi and Bibhutipur.
In all, the RJD won 75 seats, the BJP won in 74, and the JD(U) won 43, while Congress party won 19 in the 2020 election. Among the Left parties, the CPI-ML bagged 12 seats, with the CPI and CPI(M) taking two seats each.
The forthcoming Bihar Assembly election for 243 seats will take place in two phases, on November 6 and 11, with the results to be announced on November 14.
Published – October 08, 2025 08:03 pm IST