Bihar Elections 2025: Nitish Kumar Braces to Bury 2020 Ghost

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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar takes pivotal position in electoral chessboard as his trusted lieutenants work overnight to bury the 2020 ghost.

By TRH Political Desk

Patna, October 20, 2025 — Political corridors in Patna buzzed with whispers that the location of Sanjay Yadav’s car had been mapped near the residence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last week. Sanjay Yadav, a trusted lieutenant of Tejashwi Yadav, who is the face of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar Assembly elections.

The rumour wildfire spread soon after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced seat adjustment among the constituents. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) lost the “big brother” tag in the NDA after the party agreed to contest equal number of seats with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—101 each.

Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah’s remarks made at a television appearance that the legislators of the alliance will elect the next Chief Minister of Bihar further poured oil in the burning furnace of speculations. In 2015, Kumar had given several lessons in politics to Shah by opening his electoral cupboard to stitch an alliance with anti-saffron parties to subject the BJP to a humiliating defeat.

While Delhi media believes that Sanjay Jha, a regular appearance with Shah, is the face of the JD (U), insiders in the party argue that Kumar for past two years has an army of trusted lieutenants, including one former bureaucrat with same caste lineage, preparing for the Bihar Assembly elections 2025.

“Nitish Kumar is deftly making moves on the electoral chessboard of Bihar, while keeping a close watch on Chirag Paswan, Union Minister and chief of the Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas). He is determined to ensure that no harm is done to the JD (U) in the lines of the 2020 state elections,” said Rajeshwar Jaiswal, a Bihar-based political observer.

In 2020, Paswan had broken ranks with the NDA to contest the Assembly elections independently and ended up damaging the JD (U) most. Political observers in Patna linked Paswan’s enterprise to a script drafted by strategists to damage Kumar’s profile in the state politics.

“For past two years, Nitish Kumar has been carefully preparing for the Assembly elections. Jeevika women are his soldiers, who are moving around villages to canvas for the Chief Minister,” added Jaiswal. Incidentally, the Jeevika (self-help groups) Mission was armed with an outreach programme last year with a separate budget and a mandate to spread awareness among women of schemes for them in the state.

“We have been funded very lavishly, and our job is to make the women aware of works being done by the Chief Minister,” said an outreach professional in Bettiah.

The JD (U) was humbled in the 2020 state elections as the party could win just 43 seats. The Chief Minister, sources said, is keeping a close watch on efforts made by the alliance partners in the NDA for vote transfers.