Bihar election results: Tejashwi gets votes, BJP-Nitish get seats!

The Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which contested the Bihar elections in collaboration with the Congress, showed a poor performance in the state, only managing to win 25 of 143 seats. 

Despite an embarrassing turn of events, where it won less number of seats, there is still a silver lining in terms of the fact that the RJD registered the highest vote share by a single party in this year's assembly elections. 

After the counting of 243 seats on Friday, it was also revealed that the RJD secured a 23 per cent vote share, with just a slight dip from 23.11 per cent share in the previous elections in 2020. Then, it had contested in 144 constituencies. 

Meanwhile, the BJP's vote share increased to 20.07% from 19.46% in 2020, even though it contested on 101 seats compared to 110 in the previous assembly polls, as per the official data released by the Election Commission of India. 

What is a vote share? 

Vote share refers to the percentage of total votes received by a political party or candidate in an election, relative to the total number of votes cast. It is through the vote share that we get to know a lot about the popularity or support of the party within an electorate. 

Why did RJD lose despite a high vote share? 

RJD having a larger vote share reveals that in some constituencies, it might be racing at the second or third spot, gathering many votes, only not enough to lead it to the top across the finish line. So, this adds to their vote share, but not to their seat count. 

This further suggests that, despite getting so many votes overall, these votes got wasted in those constituencies where they did not win, or could win only at a narrow margin, or perhaps lost at a narrow margin. 

Moreover, it was more of a "flop show" of RJD's allies in the Mahagathbandhan, with the Congress delivering its worst-ever performance so far. Out of the 61 seats it contested in, the age-old party could only emerge victorious in six seats. The CPI(ML)(L) won two seats, CPI(M) one, and the CPI none, taking the total count of the Mahagathbandhan to only 35. 

Lastly, the winning camp, i.e., the NDA, secured a bumper victory with 202 seats, with the BJP becoming the largest party in the state, winning 89 of them. JD(U) followed close at 85, with Union Minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) at 19, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Aawam Morcha at 5, and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha at 4.