‘Change Will Come’: Tejashwi Yadav Voices Confidence as Bihar Counting Begins

As vote counting for the Bihar Assembly Election 2025 commenced on Friday, heightened security was deployed across counting centres statewide. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the opposition’s chief ministerial candidate, expressed confidence in his party’s prospects, calling it a “people’s victory.” Speaking to reporters, he said, “It will be a people's victory. We are willing. Change will come. We are forming the government.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, BJP candidate from Lakhisarai, took a dig at Tejashwi, criticising dynastic politics. “The public will decide who will win the elections. ‘Parivarvaadi log’ consider politics their fiefdom, but the people of Bihar will give a strong message to the ‘Yuvraaj’ of ‘jungle raj’, born with a golden spoon. People of Bihar will end this Zamindari bhav,” Sinha told reporters.

The elections saw a historic voter turnout of 67.13%, the highest since 1951, with women voters outpacing men (71.6% vs 62.8%), according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). A total of 2,616 candidates from 12 recognised political parties contested the two-phase polls held on November 6 and 11, with no requests for repolling reported.

Elaborate arrangements were in place for counting, with 4,372 counting tables and over 18,000 counting agents overseeing the process. Most exit polls have projected a comfortable NDA victory, though some suggested a potential Mahagathbandhan win.

The main contest is between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and the Mahagathbandhan, led by Tejashwi Yadav. In the 2020 assembly elections, the NDA secured a majority with 125 seats. However, in August 2022, Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the BJP to form a government with the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan, before returning to the NDA in January 2024 ahead of the parliamentary polls.

Historically, the BJP improved its performance between 2015 and 2020, winning 53 of 157 seats in 2015 and 74 of 110 seats in 2020. The RJD also performed strongly, winning 80 of 101 seats in 2015 and 75 of 144 seats in 2020. JD(U) and Congress, however, saw a decline, with JD(U) dropping from 71 seats in 2015 to 43 in 2020, and Congress from 27 to 19 seats.

With counting underway across all 243 assembly constituencies, Bihar waits for a high-stakes verdict that could reshape the state’s political landscape.

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