In Bihar Rout, A Silver Lining For RJD: It Still Commands Muslim-Yadav Vote

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) may have suffered one of its biggest electoral setbacks in Bihar, but the Muslim-Yadav backing for the Lalu Yadav-led party has remained intact, showed an analysis of the election results by Ascendia Strategies.

The NDA put up a record performance in the November elections, winning 202 out of the total 243 seats. This wasn't at the cost of the RJD's core voter base. The Muslim-Yadav votes formed 60% of the Mahagathbandhan's vote share, the analysis showed.

The Yadav vote share accounts for 10% of the total 38% votes that went to the Tejashwi Yadav-led Opposition alliance. The Muslim vote share was 13%.

On the other hand, of the total 47% vote share of the NDA, only 3% were from the Yadavs and 2% Muslims.

A large section of the so-called upper castes chose the NDA, according to Ascendia. While 7% of the NDA's vote share came from the general category, it was just 2% for the Grand Alliance, the analysis showed.

The non-Yadav OBCs also voted overwhelmingly for the NDA. About 7% of the total NDA vote share came from the non-Yadav OBC population. For the Mahagathbandhan, this community contributed just 3%.

The NDA benefited from its EBC-SC-ST voter base; 60% of its vote share came from this caste combine.

About 15% of the EBC population voted for them, while the Grand Alliance got only 6%. The SC-STs also favoured the NDA; about 13% of the NDA's vote share came from them. The Mahagathbandhan's SC-ST vote share was only 4%.