Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) may have been reduced to just 25 seats in the Bihar assembly elections, but it still emerged as the state’s number one party in two major ways: total votes received and overall vote share.
The scale of the National Democratic Alliance’s victory was overwhelming. The BJP–JDU–LJP combine secured 202 seats, leaving the Grand Alliance — comprising the RJD, Congress and Left parties — with a mere 35 seats. The RJD, despite leading the alliance, could secure only 25 constituencies.
Yet, the numbers beneath the surface tell a different story.
RJD leads in vote share
According to election data, the RJD secured 23% of the total vote share, the highest for any party in the state. The BJP followed with 20.08%, trailing the RJD by nearly three percentage points.
JDU ranked third with 19.25%, while Congress registered 8.71%.
The RJD’s strong showing in vote share was partly attributable to contesting the largest number of seats, but analysts note that the party’s core support base remained remarkably intact, even amid the NDA’s sweeping gains.
Highest total votes: ‘Most people pressed the lantern button’
In absolute numbers, the RJD received more votes than any other party — 1,15,46,055 votes in total, combining postal ballots and EVM votes. This is the highest vote count secured by a single party in the 2025 Bihar election.
The BJP, despite winning 89 seats, received 1,00,81,143 votes — around 1.5 million less than the RJD.
JDU secured 96,67,118 votes, translating into 85 seats, while Congress managed 43,74,579 votes.
Political observers say the discrepancy between vote share and seats highlights once again the volatility of first-past-the-post outcomes in a highly fragmented multi-party contest.
