The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) continued its strong performance in the 2025 Bihar assembly elections, holding a commanding lead of 198 seats at 2:30 pm, while the Congress–RJD-led Mahagathbandhan struggled with leads in just 40 seats, indicating a crushing defeat for the opposition.
The aggressive campaign by the INDIA bloc—known as the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar—largely centered on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “vote chori” (vote theft). However, early trends showed that the message failed to resonate with voters, who appeared to decisively back the NDA.
According to the Election Commission’s ongoing count, the BJP–JDU combine consistently maintained a 195+ seat lead, while the Mahagathbandhan couldn’t cross even the halfway mark to 50 seats. The majority mark in the 243-member Bihar assembly stands at 122 seats, making the NDA’s position overwhelmingly secure.
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote-Chori’ Narrative Falls Flat
In the weeks leading up to polling day, Rahul Gandhi held multiple press conferences accusing the Election Commission of data manipulation, vote deletion, and large-scale voter fraud allegedly orchestrated by the BJP-led NDA. He even claimed to show “proof,” including a Brazilian model purportedly appearing 22 times in the Haryana voter list under names like Seema and Sweety.
Despite these dramatic allegations—described by Gandhi as a “hydrogen bomb” of evidence—the Congress failed to convert the narrative into electoral momentum. The party underperformed significantly, leading in only 4 of the 61 seats it contested, making it a minor contributor to the Mahagathbandhan’s tally.
The Congress’s social media blitz, aimed at energising its cadre and consolidating anti-incumbency, similarly failed to deliver results on the ground.
As trends stand, the voters appear to have dismissed the opposition’s claims and placed their confidence firmly in the NDA, setting the stage for a landslide mandate in Bihar.