RJD Leader Tejashwi Yadav In Hibernation Post-Bihar Elections Loss

Bungalow number 10 in Circular Road – power corridor of Patna – bears an unusually deserted look since the results of the Bihar Assembly elections were announced on November 14, 2025.

The bungalow, spreading over 1.75 acres, has been the official address of former Chief Minister and current Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Rabri Devi. Former Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Rabri Devi's son, also reside here.

Although Tejashwi Yadav's government-allotted residence is at 1 Polo Road, near 10 Circular Road, he preferred to stay with his parents at Circular Road.

Usually, dozens of party workers would gather outside the Circular Road bungalow daily, but after the RJD's crushing defeat in the elections, the workers are no longer visible there.

A journalist, who covers Tejashwi Yadav and spends most of the time at Circular Road, says to Outlook, "The atmosphere has completely changed. There used to be crowds and gatherings, but that has completely reduced. Tejashwi Yadav also rarely leaves his house and has stopped giving bytes to the media."

However, 77-year-old Lalu Prasad Yadav's routine remains the same. A close source told Outlook, "Unlike Tejashwi, Saheb (Lalu Prasad Yadav) holds a darbar (meeting) every day. He goes to Ganga Drive to have a walk."

Atop the wall near the main gate, a replica of a green-coloured large lantern – the party's symbol – can be seen from a distance. Silence is disrupted by policemen deputed to secure the bungalow.

The silence on Circular Road reflects the party's top leadership's disappointment, including Tejashwi Yadav, who was leading the elections from the front and was the party's sole star campaigner. Furthermore, the family feud that emerged immediately after the election results has made the situation even more delicate. His younger sister, Rohini Acharya, left the 10 Circular Road bungalow soon after the result, claiming she was mistreated by close aides of Tejashwi Yadav. She also claimed to disown his brother.

Tejashwi Yadav virtually disappeared from the scene after the poor election results. He held a press conference on 13th November, a day before the election results, and subsequently did not appear at public events or make any media statements for a week after the results were announced. He also skipped the swearing-in ceremony held at Gandhi Maidan on 20th November. He offered his wishes to the new government through his social media accounts.

Tejashwi Yadav’s absence has further discouraged party workers already disappointed by the defeat.

A longtime RJD worker from Patna Rural, who belongs to the Musahar community, says, "Election results will come and go. Sometimes we will lose, sometimes we will win, but he should not disappear like this." "We want him to engage in worker-to-worker dialogue with us. He should take feedback from the workers and then return to the ground with strength," he says.

A young worker associated with the party's digital win says, "His lack of communication with the workers is not right. We workers, are deeply disappointed by his silence.” “Humlogon ki haalat to yeh hai ki lagta hai ki lagta hai humare ghar mein koi mar gaya hai (We are so dejected that it feels like someone has died in our family)," he says.

Highest Vote Share Despite Humiliating Defeat

The Bihar Assembly election results, in terms of seats, were extremely disappointing for the RJD and the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance). Out of the 243 assembly seats, the RJD won only 25, while the Grand Alliance, which included the RJD, the Congress, the CPI (ML) Liberation, the CPI (M), the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), and the India Inclusive Party (IIP), together managed to win only 35 seats.

Mukesh Sahani was made part of the Grand Alliance with the deputy chief minister post to consolidate Mallah (fishing community) – falls under Extremely Backward Class (EBC) – a group of more than 100 castes, which together make up 36 per cent (10 of them are muslim EBC) of the total population. Additionally, an EBC leader, Mangani Lal Mandal, was made RJD state president. Many EBC leaders were given tickets, but poll results indicate that EBC could not consolidate behind RJD and went with Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) of Nitish Kumar.

The RJD had given tickets to 23 EBC candidates, but only two of them won. The NDA, on the other hand, performed well. The NDA had given tickets to 36 EBC candidates, of whom 24 won.

Of the 40 reserved SC/ST seats, NDA won 35, while the Grand Alliance won just five.

However, RJD’s vote share did not fall sharply.

Voting percentage data shows that the RJD is still the largest party in the state. In this assembly election, the RJD received 11.5 million votes, which is 23 per cent of the total votes polled. The party lost only 0.11 per cent of the votes compared to the 2020 assembly elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received 20.08 per cent of the votes, which is 0.54 per cent higher than in 2020, whereas JDU made a 3.86 per cent jump and received 19.25 per cent of the votes.

In the 2010 Bihar assembly elections, too, RJD had suffered the same defeat. The RJD received 18.84 per cent of the vote in 2010, which was 4.61 per cent less than in the October 2005 assembly polls. The party fought in the 2010 election on 168 seats but won only 22. But in this election, RJD fought on 143 seats, fewer than in the 2010 elections.

Writer and political analyst Prasanna Kumar Chaudhary, who has written many books on social and political issues of Bihar, says, “The data says that RJD is the biggest party in terms of vote share, which means the party still has a substantial support base.”

However, in the context of Bihar, the political arithmetic is very simple. “RJD, BJP and JDU are three powerful players in state politics. If two major parties come together, they will win, and the third will be decimated. The 2015 Bihar assembly elections were a classic example of this. RJD lost the 2010 elections badly because the BJP and JDU were allied. However, in 2015, when RJD and JDU contested the elections together, the Grand Alliance won 178 seats,” he says.

Will Tejashwi Bounce Back?

Party sources cited many reasons for the Party's poor performance. This includes: poor coordination with alliance partners; no communication with party leaders who had won the last elections and were unhappy because they were denied tickets this time; ignoring grassroots leaders in ticket distribution and giving preferences to turncoats; a communication gap with grassroots workers who had ground reality on hand, and so on.

Results lay bare that the Muslim-Yadav equation, on which RJD banks, is no longer intact. Even core Yadav voters have shifted their loyalty. In this election, RJD fielded 51 Yadav candidates, but only seven won. On the other hand, the BJP and JD(U)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had fielded only 27 Yadav candidates, of whom 15 won. Muslims got polarised towards All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

A party worker says, “The party has changed a lot in terms of functioning. Earlier, when Laluji was heading the party, he was easily available to us. Whenever he visited villages, he would call local leaders to the stage to gather feedback. But now we can’t meet Tejashwiji easily.”

Another party worker says, “During voting, we had seen that JEEViKA didis (associated with the Bihar government's Rural Livelihoods Project) were inside the booth and influencing voters. We had made multiple calls to Tejashwiji’s close aide but got no response.”

Prasanna K. Choudhary believes that announcing Tejashwi Yadav as the chief minister candidate seems to have backfired on the Grand Alliance. “It was an immature decision. The moment Tejashwi Yadav was made the chief minister's face. The battle became Nitish versus Tejashwi, and people preferred Nitish over Tejashwi.”

After nearly 1.5 weeks of poll results, Tejashwi Yadav has sought reports from the assembly seats where the party lost. He is meeting defeated candidates and local leaders to know what went wrong on the ground.

Ravindra Singh, an RJD leader and former MLA, says, “Disappointment demoralises party workers. Tejashwiji should review the results, plan strategies, and act. There is no other way.”

Meanwhile, a close source told Outlook that Tejashwi plans a statewide tour to form a ground team in every district. "Soon, he will hit the ground."