PATNA, Nov. 16 -- Driving on the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, social engineering of Nitish Kumar, the BJP almost matched its best ever performance in terms of numbers when it won 89 out of the 101 seats contested in 2025. This performance was two less than the party's best ever performance in 2010 when the BJP had won 91 seats (89%) out of 102 it contested. The NDA under Nitish Kumar had won 202 seats in 2010 assembly polls and 74 in 2020 polls. The BJP approached Bihar 2025 polls with clear intent -- to strengthen its independent base in a state where it has long been dependent on regional allies. After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the NDA's performance in Bihar slipped compared to earlier years, the BJP aimed to consolidate its organisation at the booth level and project its governance narrative directly to voters. The improved performance of the BJP was not without planning. "The preparations started 18 months before the poll with leaders assigned different tasks. The growth of a political party in a particular arena is dependent on many factors, the foremost being ideology and its acceptance. Equally important are its political actions, negotiations with communities, social and communitarian alliances, and organisational strength, which is forged by committed workers and charismatic leadership," said BJP state vice president Santosh Pathak. "This time union home minister Amit Shah had himself taken the command and had ensured that grass level organisation was strengthened. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, J P Nadda led from the front. They camped here, addressed rallies. Amit Shah handled the micro management, every constituency was considered as a separate entity and strategies were drawn accordingly. All these plans were implemented by Dharmandra Pradhan and Vinod Tawde to perfection," said Devesh Kumar, MLC and party's Mizoram in-charge. "He was so methodical that he sorted shortcomings and solved any internal dissension, so much so that there was hardly any dissent in the party after the ticket distribution," he added. "We all fighted unitedly. The voters have given their blessings to vikas ki rajneeti (Politics of development). The NDA won three seats in Muslim dominated areas," said BJP leader Vinod Tawde. The BJP did not leave any segment untouched. The party in a bid to woo women voters started a programme to reach out over nearly 48% of women voters in Bihar. The party deployed nearly 223 women vistaraks (outreach workers) in 120 assembly to reach out to women voters at every level. The first phase of women vistaraks outreach started as early as on July 25 and ended on August 2. The second phase started a week later. The BJP as early as June, in a bid to consolidate support among Scheduled Castes and nullify Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's move to target SC voters, launched an outreach campaign to woo Dalits of poll-bound Bihar. In May, it had decided to woo about 30 millions migrant voters of Bihar. The party decided to make an appeal to them to come and vote. The party had identified nearly 150 districts in the country for the purpose. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, Bihar 2025 was more than a state election. It was a test of whether the party's national appeal and welfare-driven messaging could override regional discontent and fatigue with long-time ally Nitish Kumar. Such was the level of involvement of national leaders that the PM himself addressed different sections of BJP workers, women workers, booth workers, youths to motivate them through video conferencing. "He also visited the party office that enthused party workers," said Pathak. "The BJP took to the voters programmes and policies run by the government --both centre and the state -- gave emphasis on the booth management and worked on weak booths, strengthened booth committees," added Pathak. AFter taking over as Bihar's election in-charge, Dharmendra Pradhan also started a door-to-door campaign which helped people connect with the party. The party increased its vote share to 20.81% from 19.46% it got in 2020 polls. The party's campaign leaned heavily on Modi's image, national welfare schemes like PM Awas Yojana, and the promise of continued development. The prime minister held multiple rallies across the state, with a message that the BJP represented "vikas" and stability. "The Modi factor did the trick. The Modi factor penetrated deep inside villages, the jungle raj narrative aroused a sense of fear," said N K Chowdhary, retired professor and psephologist. The victory has reaffirmed the BJP's ability to win in a complex state without depending excessively on caste arithmetic. It would strengthen Modi's hand before the 2026 state polls and send a message that his popularity remains intact even in a state where unemployment and migration are major issues. "The narrative of stable governance and incremental development through infrastructure and social engineering has had enough traction and we are seeing it on the ground," said Prof Gyanendra Yadav, College of Commerce, Patna. "This BJP victory means several things for the state and national politics. With a stronger mandate, the BJP will have more say and leverage in the Bihar government, potentially increasing its control within the administration. A strong showing in Hindi heartland states like Bihar is a significant confidence booster for the BJP nationally, especially following a mixed performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," said Yadav....