Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD wins most votes in Bihar elections, but NDA gets more seats; Why, and how?

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won only 25 seats in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. The RJD, along with the Congress, led the Grand Alliance and fielded candidates in 143 seats. Despite a dismal performance in terms of seat count, it was a positive sign for Tejashwi Yadav. The RJD secured the highest vote share of any other party in these elections, securing 23 per cent of the vote, slightly lower than the 23.11 per cent it secured in the previous assembly elections, when the party fielded 144 candidates.

BJP’s vote share increases

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) vote share increased from 19.46% to 20.07% this time. The BJP contested 101 seats this time, compared to 110 in the previous election. Vote share is the percentage of votes received by a political party or candidate out of the total votes cast. Vote share reveals a lot about a party’s popularity or support among voters. Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD had the highest vote share, so why didn’t the party win more seats? Let’s understand.

Struggle in many seats

The RJD’s vote share indicates that the party may have finished second or third in many constituencies, where it garnered significant votes but not enough to cross the line. This increases its overall vote share, but not its seat count. It also shows that while it may have garnered significant votes overall, those votes weren’t enough to secure victory in those constituencies. Tejashwi’s party lagged in many seats despite being competitive.

Poor performance of allies

The performance of RJD’s allies in the Grand Alliance also flopped. Congress won only six out of 61 seats. The CPI(ML)L won two seats, and the CPI(M) won one seat. CPI could not even open its account. The same was the condition of Mukesh Sahni’s VIP.

VIP had fielded candidates on 15 seats but could not win even one. In such a situation, the Grand Alliance had to be satisfied with a total of 35 seats. On the other hand, NDA got 202 seats, in which BJP’s contribution was the biggest at 89. After this, the JDU got 85, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) got 19, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) got 5, and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha got 4 seats.

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