The National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) sweeping victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, securing over 200 of the 243 seats, represents more than just electoral dominance: it exemplifies how India’s first-past-the-post system can magnify vote share advantages when party systems consolidate around two principal alliances.

The arithmetic tells a compelling story. The NDA secured 47.2% of the vote while the Mahagathbandhan (MGB) obtained 37.3%, a gap of nearly 10 percentage points. While significant, this margin alone doesn’t fully explain the NDA’s bumper harvest of seats. The answer lies in the structural transformation of Bihar’s party system over the past decade.

The trends are based on results available until 03.00 p.m. on Friday.

The vote consolidation story

The MGB’s performance

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