Five years after falling just 12 seats short of a simple majority in Bihar, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan was at the receiving end of an NDA sweep, with its two biggest constituents, the RJD and the Congress, collapsing spectacularly. While the RJD, the single-largest party, was on course to end up with only 25 seats, down from 75 in 2020, the Congress was struggling to reach double digits.

The RJD and its leader Tejashwi Yadav did not do too well because of multiple factors:

Weak ‘labharthi’ narrative

In the run-up to the polls, Tejashwi Yadav raised questions about Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ’s health, saying the NDA government was in an “achet” (unconscious) state and labelled it “khatara” (rickety). However, the RJD leader who had shaken the NDA with his 10 lakh jobs narrative

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