Bihar Assembly elections 2025: BJP quelled discontent to ensure vote transfer among NDA allies

Behind the BJP and the NDA’s stunning victory in the Bihar Assembly election is not just the overwhelming support of women, who came out in large numbers to vote and surpassed men in many seats, but also the hard grind of micromanagement for vote transfer to all allies.

The NDA win has seen the BJP become the single largest party in Bihar, matching its spectacular performance in the 2010 polls, when it had won 91 seats. The Janata Dal (United) had bagged 141 seats then.

The BJP’s long campaign for the Bihar polls began months in advance when senior party leaders such as Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J. P. Nadda stressed that all constituents have to be on the same page — organisationally, and on messaging. The message that all allies needed to pull their weight in these polls was an important part of the BJP’s own big tally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s frequent visits to the State and highlighting the governance model of the NDA, with emphasis on infrastructure and women’s empowerment, as compared to ‘jungle raj’ of non-NDA regimes of the past was the leitmotif of the campaign that the BJP stuck to.

There was also the shadow of the 2024 Lok Sabha results, according to BJP leaders. “After the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, people felt upset that they had not given a full majority to the Narendra Modi government, and that has also been a theme in the subsequent polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi, where we got big victories,” said Mr. Nadda at the ‘thanksgiving rally’ held in Delhi after the results.

While data shows that the large turnout by women is directly linked to NDA victories, the behind-the-scenes management of sometimes inimical alliance partners and rebel candidates disappointed at not receiving party tickets ensured a smooth transfer of votes across the various constituents of the NDA. This micromanagement, led by Mr. Shah, contributed to this transfer of votes across allies.

For example, while the BJP and the JDU, at the time of writing, had won or were leading in 90 and 83 seats respectively, NDA allies Lok Janshakti Party (RV) was ahead on 19 seats (out of the 28 it contested), the Hindustan Awaam Morcha (HAM) was leading in five (out of six) and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha was winning four seats (out of six). Thus, all constituents of the NDA did well.

According to sources, Mr. Shah, who spent 19 days in the State, held mandal to State-level meetings with workers across the parties for coordination.

Over 100 rebel candidates were in the fray at the beginning of the campaign and could have split the NDA’s vote base had they contested. “Amit Shah ji did not schedule any programme for two to three days and met with as many of the rebel candidates of the alliance as possible. Most of them would only be satisfied if he gave them a hearing, and their anxieties were addressed,” said a BJP leader from Bihar.

The 2025 election also had the shadow of the 2020 polls over it, when LJP fought alone and managed to upset the JD(U)’s chances in at least 32 seats, where the LJP’s vote share was more than the margin of defeat of the JD(U) candidate. Meetings were held between the workers of these parties to get them to pull together and make sure that any bitterness of the past did not get in the way this time around. The BJP’s team of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, both considered quintessential organisation men, reached out to NDA workers and leaders.

Amid the big ideas and campaign events, the hard graft of micro-detailing worked in the NDA’s favour.