Grand Alliance’s failure holds a mirror to the RJD

he scale of the National Democratic ‘Alliance (NDA)’s sweep and the Mahagathbandhan (MGB)’s collapse comprehensively tells the story of the 2025 Bihar assembly polls: Every division that once mattered in the analysis of election results in the state has been flattened.

- Rahul Verma

While the NDA’s constituents lifted each other and breached the Opposition’s strongholds, every MGB partner dragged the alliance down. The result? The Congress and Left together could not cross double-digits in terms of seats won. MGB deputy chief minister (CM) candidate Mukesh Sahani’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) didn’t win even one. Even Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s Tejashwi Yadav — the Opposition alliance’s CM face —struggled to win his party’s traditional stronghold of Raghopur. The BJP, on the other hand, has for the first time emerged as the single-largest party in the Bihar assembly. Janata Dal (United) doubled its seat tally from 2020. The other smaller constituents of the NDA. — the Lok Janshakti Party, Hindustani Awami ‘Morcha, and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party — recorded an impressive strike rate.

Was an MGB defeat inevitable? Six months ago, the NDA looked more shaky. Questions swirled around CM Nitish Kumar's ability, longevity, and even coherence. Unemployment and migration were burning issues. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav had galvanised their base with the Vote Adhikar Yatra. Yet, the RJD landed its worst seat tally since 2005. Why?

Like all political heirs, Tejashwi began with an advantage: A solid social coalition built by his father, Lalu Prasad, and the vocabulary of social justice and secularism. Buthe inherited the rot too — the “jungle raj” stigma, the party's Yadav-first image, and Bihar’s memories of extortion and disorder when the RJD held office. In Bihar, social justice and secularism had become inseparable from corruption and State failure. Other dynasts such as Hemant Soren, Naveen Patnaik, MK Stalin, and Omar Abdullah took their family legacy forward. They all led their parties to victory. Some like Akhilesh Yadav may be struggling, but none seem to have failed like Tejashwi has.