Bihar election results: Rahul Gandhi calls it ‘surprising’, ‘not fair from the beginning’
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday (November 14, 2025) termed the Bihar Assembly results as “truly surprising” and said “we could not achieve victory in an election that was not fair from the very beginning”
Nitish Kumar-led NDA registered a landslide wins with 202 seats of the 243-member Assembly; BJP emerges as the single largest party, bagging 89 seats overall; Mahagatbandhan faces crushing defeat, claiming only 35 seats.
A poster of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — “Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai (Tiger is still alive)” — installed outside Patna’s JD(U) office for the Bihar Assembly Election results on November 14, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) returns to power in Bihar after the ruling coalition led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar registered a landslide victory and secured the people’s mandate, crushing the opposition Mahagathbandhan in the State Assembly election results on Friday (November 14, 2025). NDA’s total vote share stood at 46.7%, while the INDIA bloc was 37.5%.
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As per the latest Election Commision of India numbers, the NDA won with a three-fourth majority, securing 202 seats of the 243-member Assembly (BJP 89, JD(U) 85, LJP (RV) 19, HAM (S) 5 and RLM 4). The Mahagathbandhan, facing a total collapse, managed to win only 35 (RJD 25, INC 6, CPI(ML)(L) 2, CPI(M) 1, IIP 1) and the Owaisi-led AIMIM won five seats. Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj failed to open its account in its debut electoral run.
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On the mandate, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the results are “truly surprising” and said “we could not achieve victory in an election that was not fair from the very beginning”. He also said the INDIA bloc will conduct an in-depth review of the poll results and make more effective efforts to save democracy.
Mr. Gandhi also said the Congress and the INDIA bloc will conduct an in-depth review of the poll results and make more effective efforts to save democracy.
“I express my heartfelt gratitude to those millions of voters in Bihar who expressed their trust in the Mahagathbandhan. This result in Bihar is truly surprising. We could not achieve victory in an election that was not fair from the very beginning,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
One of the most closely watched trends in the Bihar 2025 Assembly Elections was the Congress party’s performance within the Mahagatbandhan (grand alliance). In the 2020 elections, the party had recorded the lowest contested vote share and strike rate among the alliance’s major partners. The weak performance of the Congress in the 2020 polls was one of the main reasons behind the close contest that year.
Data shows that the Congress’ poor performance continued in 2025 and, in fact, further worsened.
The trend becomes clearer when looking at the strike rate, which is calculated by dividing the number of seats a party won by the number of seats it contested.
