Bihar loss deepens Opposition slump in Hindi-speaking belt since '14 polls

In the 26 assembly elections in North India since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014, the Opposition has won 12.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

The Bihar assembly election—the 27th in North India—is not just another feather in the NDA‘s cap, but a low point for an opposition that managed just 35 seats in the 243-member assembly.

Out of the 12 victories for the BJP’s rivals, the Congress accounts for five, underlining the woeful state of the party that once governed vast swathes of North India. In the 2025 Bihar election, the party won six of the 61 seats it contested—for an abysmal 9.8% strike rate. The leader of the Grand Alliance, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, won 25 of the 143 seats it contested, a strike rate of 17.5%.