16

Nov

What Made Unprecedented Victory of NDA Possible 

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Prof Pradeep Mathur

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New Delhi | Monday | 17 November 2025

The first and perhaps the most thing about the Bihar verdict  is that in the heat of political discourse we missed the point that Chief Minister Nitesh Kumar  has administered the once unruly Bihar well and the state has made good economic progress during his tenure. However, the  election results have   surprised everyone. Let us examine what made it happen.

The defeated Opposition leaders and many others will attribute the NDA victory to electoral malpractices and the election Commission’s partisan role at the behest of the  BJP Government ruling at the Centre. The allegations are serious but howsoever serious the allegations are not facts unless proven beyond doubt. Therefore, there is the need to look beyond the role of the Election Commission and understand the verdict.

However, the Election Commission is not entirely above blame. It did show a partisan attitude. First instead of applying its own discretion  in fixing the dates  and phasing of the elections it went by the wish of the government at the Centre. Then it ignored the violation of the moral code of conduct by the Nitish Kumar Govt when it lured the voters with financial grants and announcement of new projects. It also  ignored the big play of money power in the election and finally it kept its eyes closed on the provision that no political group should transport and  escort voters to the polling booths.

Article at a Glance
The Bihar verdict surprised many observers, but the article argues that Nitish Kumar’s long record of effective governance and improved infrastructure played a major role in the NDA’s victory. Despite allegations by the Opposition that the Election Commission acted partially and ignored violations by the ruling government, these claims remain unproven.
Nitish’s initiatives—better roads, airports, bridges, prohibition, and welfare schemes for women and the elderly—helped build strong voter support. In contrast, the Mahagathbandhan, though morally positioned on issues like unemployment and social justice, suffered from strategic errors, including projecting Tejashwi Yadav as CM face and failing to counter the influence of Prashant Kishor and Asaduddin Owaisi, who weakened its vote base.
The elections also revealed a positive trend of voters rising above caste lines, signalling a maturing electorate and offering hope for stronger secular democratic politics in the future.

One can say that a lot of water has flown in the Ganga from the days of T.N. Sheshan and the Election Commission has ceased to be considerate about these things. Since offering freebies and promising moon to voters at the election time has become a common practice both of the ruling as well as the Opposition parties perhaps the Election Commission can do little about it and cannot be blamed for not enforcing the established norms.

Viewing the elections and the campaign of rival parties from an entirely political perspective made the media and political analysts  ignore the ground realities. Whatever his political infirmities the fact is that Nitish Kumar has given Bihar a good administration and the state has also made  progress under him. Bihar now has more airports, better roads , more bridges and better connectivity that makes mobility smooth. While the work on  improving  infrastructure creates direct and subsidiary employment   the better connectivity  leads  to more shops, vends thus resulting more employment and an expanded market base .Though Bihar still remain largely backward compared to other states , the Nitish Government has become a symbol of hope for a people who suffered abject poverty and exploitation even 50 years after the Independence.

Enforcing prohibition has made Nitish a favourite of women in Bihar. His election eve announcement of Rs 10,000 for women to stand on their feet must have swung the better half of Bihar massively in favour of NDA. The increase in poor old people’s monthly pension from Rs 500 t0 Rs 1100 too must have paid its dividends to the NDA.

No doubt the Maha Gath Bandhan ( MGB) of the Opposition alliance was on a  high moral pedestal – championing the cause of unemployed youth, students , the other backward castes , Dalits  and Muslims –but it lacked  skills of the BJP leaders in electoral strategy. Whether Prashant Kumar and Asaduddin Owasi were BJP’s B Team or not is difficult to say but they were certainly prompted by the BJP. The amount of money Prashant Kishore spent in his election campaign is anybody’s guess. While Prashant Kishore made a serious dent in the MGB constituency of youth , students and liberal anti-BJP educated class, Owasi took away the Muslims from RJD. While the two  got no or  little electoral success they severely undercut the support base of MGD. The RJD and Congress leaders should have foreseen this and taken corrective measures well in time.

Another big  mistake the MGB made was to declare Tejaswi Yadav as the CM face. First to an average   voter he looked a pigmy before experienced Nitish Kumar . Then it also gave the BJP leaders to make Laloo’s “ Jungle Raj “ as the central theme of their campaign which appealed to the middle- aged and senior citizens. In comparison this elevated the status of the Nitish raj in the eyes of the voters. This announcement put a damper on a very well going  election campaign that had made the MGB victory look like  a near possibility.

Perhaps the lady luck is unhappy with the Congress. Much- blamed Rahul Gandhi is a political saint in an era where thugs and petty people rule. He rightly championed the cause of other backward classes and  got them party tickets. But this alarmed the vested interests of higher castes and they conspired to defeat these candidates and the Congress party in the process.

Then the  Old Delhi bomb blast also   considerably damaged the  MGM in the second phase of polling by polarising majority community   votes which made the MGD lose in areas which were its traditional strongholds.

However,the Bihar elections have shown a welcome trend. The  voters have shown a clear willingness vote above caste lines. This is a sign that our voters are maturing . This is what all right-thinking people have always desired. This is a  chance for secular and democratic political forces capture and  grow to challenge the BJP which will remain committed to the communal outlook of Hindutav , ( Veteran journalist and media Guru , Prof Pradeep Mathur is Editor-in-chief of Mediamap news network and Chairman of MBKM Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation for voluntary social work)

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