1995 Bihar legislative assembly election

25 and 28 March 1995
All 324 seats of the Bihar Legislative Assembly 163 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61.79%
Majority party Minority party   Leader Lalu Prasad Yadav Yashwant Sinha Party JD BJP Leader since 1990 1995 Seats before 122 39 Seats after 167 41 Seat change 45 2   Third party Fourth party   Leader Jagannath Mishra Indrajit Gupta Party INC(I) CPI Leader since 1989 1990 Seats before 71 23 Seats after 29 26 Seat change 42 3
CM before election Lalu Prasad JD Elected CM Lalu Prasad JD

Legislative Assembly elections were held in March 1995, to elect the 324 members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Janata Dal got a decisive victory in the state; political manoeuvre ensured Lalu Prasad Yadav's victory in the chief ministership.^[1] According to political scientist Sanjay Kumar, this election set a different trend in caste based politics of the state of Bihar, as in this election, there were two main political blocs in the state contesting for power. The either side of this power struggle was led by Backward Castes. It was the election in which the Forward Castes were pushed to margins in the politics of state.^[2]

Results

Source: ECI^[3]

Party	Party Flag	Candidates	Seats	Seats Change	Vote Share
Janata Dal		264	167	(+) 45	28.0
Bharatiya Janata Party		315	41	(+) 2	13.0
Indian National Congress		320	29	(-) 42	16.3
Communist Party of India		61	26	(+) 3	4.8
Independent		5674	11	(-) 19	13.8
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha		63	10	(-) 8	2.3
Samata Party		310	7	(+) 7	7.1
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)		89	6	(+) 6	2.4
Communist Party of India (Marxist)		31	2	(-) 4	1.4
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha		22	6	(+) 6
JMM (Marandi)		58	3	(+) 3	1.0
Samajwadi Party		176	2	(+) 2	1.7
Marxist Co-ordination Committee		5	2	(+) 0	0.3
Bahujan Samaj Party		161	2	(+) 2	1.3
Jharkhand People's Party		33	2	(+) 2	0.3
Champaran Vikas Party		15	1	(+) 1	0.3
Jharkhand Party		29	1	(+) 1	0.2
Bhartiya Pragatisheel Party		259	1	(+) 1	3.0

Elected members

References