Bihar has so far had the ruling NDA in the lead, with counting being underway for the assembly polls, but there are also some surprises thrown up in an election that has, in a first, not witnessed any polling day deaths, nor any re-polling been ordered in any constituency.
The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) was leading in five seats, according to the Election Commission data.
The party, which has significant influence in the Seemanchal region with a high Muslim population, is contesting 29 of the 243 seats in the assembly. Of these, 24 of the seats that it is contesting are in the Seemanchal region.
AIMIM’s Md Sarawar Alam was leading in Kochadhaman by 13,996 votes after the 11th round of counting, while Akhtarul Iman was ahead in Amour by 14,262 votes after the ninth round of counting.
Ghulam Sarwar was leading in Baisi by 9,355 votes after the sixth round of counting, whereas Mohammad Murshid Alam was ahead in Jokihat by 5,332 votes after the 11th round.
Meanwhile, the party’s Thakurganj candidate, Ghulam Hasnain, was ahead by 357 votes after 10 rounds of counting.
The AIMIM fought the elections independently, without joining either of the ruling or opposition coalitions.
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On the other hand, Tej Pratap, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s elder son, was in the fourth slot in Mahua seat after the eighth round of counting, according to trends available on the Election Commission website at 1 pm on Friday.
Yadav had floated his own Janshakti Janta Dal party after being expelled from the RJD by his father. He was trailing by 20,188 votes from Sanjay Kumar Singh of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), who is leading in Mahua.
Yadav polled 5,860 votes after the eighth round, while Singh of LJP (Ram Vilas) bagged 26,048 votes followed by Mukesh Kumar Raushan of the RJD (17,481 votes) and Amit Kumar of AIMIM who are in the third spot (8,096 votes).
Tej Pratap was expelled from the RJD on May 25, 2025, for six years, a day after he reportedly confessed to being ‘in a relationship’ with a woman. His father also disowned him, citing his son’s his “irresponsible behaviour”.
Tej Pratap, however, deleted the social media post later claiming that his page was “hacked”.
Biahr elections have been marred by bloodshed in the past. In the 1985 elections, for instance, 63 deaths were reported and re-polling was ordered in 156 booths, data showed. During the 1990 elections, 87 people had died in poll-related violence.
In 1995, then chief election commissioner, T N Seshan, had ordered postponement of the Bihar elections four times due to unprecedented violence and electoral malpractices.
More recently, in 2005, re-polling was held in 660 booths due to violence and malpractices, according to the data.
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