Counting began this morning for the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, and early trends show the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) together with the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — surging ahead of the opposition Mahagathbandhan anchored by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) under Tejashwi Yadav.
In the initial counts:
The NDA has comfortably crossed the majority threshold in the 243-member Assembly, securing leads in roughly 163 seats according to some updates.
The Mahagathbandhan is trailing, with leads in around 76 seats.
A third player, Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) led by strategist Prashant Kishor, appears set for a muted debut, leading in just two seats