Bihar Results LIVE: NDA on course for 200+ seats; Rahul Gandhi says he is ‘truly surprised’ by mandate

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the people of Bihar have “voted for a developed and prosperous state by breaking all records,” as he addressed supporters at the BJP headquarters following the NDA’s sweeping performance. He added that the mandate reflected his focus on a new “MY” formula — Mahila (women) and Youth.

“In Bihar, some people had crafted an MY formula based on appeasement, but today’s victory has introduced a new, positive MY formula — Mahila and Youth,” he said.

Reiterating his campaign message, PM Modi added, “When I spoke about jungle raj and kattas, the RJD never objected — only the Congress felt hurt. A ‘katta sarkar’ will never return.”

According to Election Commission data, the NDA crossed the majority mark, winning 183 seats and leading on 19 others. While exit polls had predicted an NDA victory, few expected the alliance to edge close to the 200-seat mark, placing it on course for one of its most decisive mandates.

For much of the day, the ruling alliance hovered between 190 and 200 seats, before detailed seat-wise results began to settle.

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Bihar Assembly Election Results | Key Highlights

Counting underway, early trends favour NDA

The Election Commission began counting at 8 am, starting with postal ballots before moving to EVMs. Initial trends gave a strong advantage to the BJP–JDU combine, with leads on nearly 200 seats, far beyond the halfway mark of 122. Although the Mahagathbandhan initially appeared competitive, it gradually lost momentum.

Tejashwi Yadav’s Raghopur sees dramatic swing

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav trailed for hours in his Raghopur seat but dramatically surged ahead in the evening, eventually securing a lead larger than the margin by which he was previously behind BJP’s Satish Kumar.

Maithili Thakur leads in Alinagar

BJP’s debutant candidate Maithili Thakur claimed victory in Alinagar, leading by over 9,000 votes against RJD’s Binod Kumar, according to ECI trends.

Tej Pratap Yadav loses Mahua

Contesting under his newly formed Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) after parting ways with the RJD, Tej Pratap Yadav briefly led in Mahua but ultimately lost to LJP’s Sanjay Kumar Singh.

What exit polls predicted

Most pollsters forecast a comfortable NDA victory, with agencies like Today’s Chanakya, Matrize, P-Marq, Peoples Pulse, and Poll Diary predicting a sweeping win. Axis My India, however, projected a narrower margin. While the BJP welcomed these projections, the Mahagathbandhan dismissed them as attempts to create a “psychological impact.”

Bihar voter turnout

Elections were held in two phases — November 6 and November 11. The first phase saw 65.08% turnout, while the second recorded a historic 69.20%, the highest since 1951. A total of 1,302 candidates contested 121 seats in phase one, while 1,314 candidates contested 122 seats in phase two.