Key Reasons Behind Tejaswi Yadav's Defeat in the Bihar Assembly Election

The recent Bihar Assembly Election has brought an unexpected outcome for the Rjd-led alliance, as Tejashwi Yadav faced a major setback. While the Mahagathbandhan expected a strong performance, the results turned out to be disappointing. Mahagathbandhan won only 35 seats while NDA won 202 seats and AIMIM managed to secure 5 seats respectively.

There are Several factors which contributed to Tejashvi Yadav's loss, reflecting both political challenges and public sentiment.

1. Strong Modi-Nitish Alliance

The biggest reason behind the defeat was the powerful coalition between Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar. Their combined image of develovement, stability and experience overshadowed Tejashwi Yadav's campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Nitish Kumar conducted several rallies across the entire state. Wherever the Prime Minister held rallies, the NDA recored a higher vote share in those regions. Under the Nitish government's Jeevika Didi scheme, financial assistance of 10000 rupees was provided to 1.30 crore womwn in Bihar, a programme that was launched by Prime Minister Modi on September 26. Tejashwi had also promised the women of the state to give 2500 rupees every month after his government comes into power but just like before, the women of Bihar chose to place their trust in the Nitish-Modi leadership rather than Tejashwi.

2. Youth Expectations Not Fully Met

Tejashwi's biggest voter base- the youth- expected more concrete promises on jobs, skill development and economic reforms. Many believed his campaign lacked specific plans and relied mostly on repeating old promises. Though, Mahagathbandhan had promised to give each family a government job in their manifesto, but the electorate largely remained unconvinced by their claim.

3.Caste Equation Did Not Work This Time

Bihar politics often depends on caste arithmetic, but this time election showed a shift. Except Muslims and Yadavs which are considered as the RJD's core voters, vote shares from other lower castes shifted dramatically from the Mahagathbandhan to the NDA due to dissatisfaction, local issues, or attraction towards the ruling alliance. several welfare schemes by the Nitish government and the central government like Sat Nishchay Yojana, Har ghar Nal Jal Yojana, Sukanya Samridhi Yojana, Kisan Samman-Nidhi Yojana, 125 units of free of cost electricity and Bihar Student Credit Card Schemes played a pivotal role in binding these vote banks towards NDA.

4. Aggressive Counter-Campaign by BJP-JDU

The ruling coalition successfully created a narrative pointing at RJD's past, law-and-order issues and corruption allegations. This narrative weakened Tejashwi's credibility among undecided voters. The tag of 'Lalu Yadav's Son' continued to overshadow Tejashwi. Since 2020, Tejashvi has constantly been talking about new Bihar where there will the opportunities of jobs, good governance and reduction in migration, but according to the election results it is clear that a sense of fear asociated with the 'jungle Raj' era still lingers in the minds of many people in Bihar and people have not forgotten the 90's era. NDA on the other hand highlighted governance and development, emphasizing the dramatic transformation Bihar has witnessed during Nitish Kumar's two decades in office and how the state's overall condition has improved significantly.

5. Weak Strategy over ticket distribution

RJD contested on around 143 seats, Congress around 61 seats, Vikassheel Insaan Party(VIP) was given 15 seats, Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist)Liberation [CPI(ML)L] contested around 20 seats. The seat sharing process was marked by public disagreements and a lack of coordition. The Congress party, in particular, experienced significant internal dissent, with several leaders alleging that tickets were sold and protesting the final decisions. Delays in ticket distribution also postponed the main campaign, and a lack of a unified, consistent narrative across all alliance partners was noted as a falling strategy. The Mahagathbandhan's ticket distribution was focussed mainly on their core voters, allocating a large nuber of tickets to Yadavs and Muslims.

6. Leadership Question & Interanl family conflicts

Tejashwi Yadav was from very beginning presenting himself as the CM face but his alliance announced this officially much later. This created a sense of discontent among RJD and Congress. On the other hand, Mukesh Sahni was continuously staking his claim for the post of Deputy CM, but he has not been able to win a single seat. Rahul Gandhi's partial absense from the Bihar election campaign is being considered as one of the big factor of defeat. Amid election campaign, he went to Colombia. He was not actively engaged in election campaign and due to this Tejashwi was somewhat isolated during the election campaign.

Before election, Lalu's elder son and Tejashwi's brother Tejpratap Yadav was isolated from his family. This incident sent a wrong message to the public because opposition took it as an issue that what Tejashwi can do for the people of Bihar who cannot even control and maintain harmony within his family. Many accused Tejashwi's friend and Rajyasabha MP Sanjay Yadav responsible for the conflict in their family. Tejpratap Yadav after being estranged from the family, formed his own political party (Janshakti Janata Dal) and fielded some candidates in the election but, he lost his own seat from Mahua.

Tejashwi Yadav's defeat in the Bihar Assembly Election highlights a mix of strategic, organizational and narrative-related challenges. He has not been able to hold influence among youth and portraying himself as the youth icon. The People of Bihar still see Lalu Yadav's shadow in him, which works against him.