The BJP-led NDA alliance has won a landslide victory in the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar. Indian Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi has said that this victory in Bihar will lead the BJP to victory in the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.

Bihar, one of West Bengal’s neighboring states, has a total of 243 assembly seats. Voting for the elections was held in two phases. Voting was held in 121 seats in the first phase on November 6. The voter turnout in this phase was more than 65 percent.

Later, on November 11, the second phase of voting was held in 122 seats. The voter turnout in this phase was more than 68 percent. The combined voter turnout in the two phases was about 67 percent.

The counting of votes began at 8 am local time on Friday. The Election Commission announced the final results of the vote later that night.

The election was mainly contested between the BJP-Janata Dal United (JDU)-led NDA alliance and the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan. After the results were declared, it was seen that the NDA alliance candidates won 202 out of the 242 assembly seats. The opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance candidates won 35 seats.

The BJP, the largest ally of the NDA, won 89 seats. The second-largest ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) won 85 seats. Bihar politician and Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party won 19 seats and the Awam Morcha Party, led by Union Minister Jitan Ram Majhi, won five seats.

In this election, the ‘X factor’ was considered to be the ‘X factor’ of the voter-savvy Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party. But the election results show that the party has suffered a setback, with the Jan Suraj Party not winning a single seat. On the other hand, the ‘dark horse’ has emerged as the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), the party of Telangana politician and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. MIM has won 5 seats in Bihar.

Congratulating the NDA alliance in a message after the results were announced, Narendra Modi said, “In this election, some political parties followed the formula of minority appeasement, but the women and youth of Bihar made the NDA victorious.”

The West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in 2026. Expecting a victory for the BJP in that election, Modi said, “The Ganges flows from Bihar to Bengal (West Bengal). Bihar has paved the way for the BJP’s victory in West Bengal. I assure the brothers and sisters of Bengal that we will join hands with you and uproot the Jungle Raj from West Bengal.”