"People reposed confidence in PM Modi's leadership": Piyush Goyal as NDA leads in Bihar

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], November 14 : Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said that National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates were leading in most assembly constituencies as voter counting continued in Bihar, with people reposing confidence in the ruling alliance's leadership.
He said that the election leads may change for the better.
"181 seats out of 243 where the NDA candidates are leading as of now, and it seems this could change for the better. Thank you very much to the people of Bihar and India for their faith in PM Modi's leadership, and that of the National Democratic Alliance, our leader, Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar and for their commitment to India's story of Viksit Bharat 2047," Goyal said while addressing the CII Partnership Summit 2025 here.
"We have an interesting result coming out on the television screens. For those of you who are interested, the people of India, through the second most populous state of Bihar, a very crucial state where elections were held last week, have just once again reposed confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he added.
As counting progresses for the Bihar Assembly elections, early leads indicate a strong and commanding lead for the NDA, signalling what could be one of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's most decisive electoral victories.
The trends suggest that the renewed JD(U)-BJP partnership, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationwide popularity, is steering the ruling NDA toward a sweeping mandate of over 243 seats assembly.
The Nitish Kumar-led NDA has secured a combined total of 190 seats, with BJP leading in 84, JDU in 76, LJP in 22, HAM in 4 and RLM in 3 as per data from the EC at 11:45 am.RJD leads in 34 seats, Congress leads in 5, CPI(ML) leads 7, while CPI-M and VIP lead in 1 seat each, taking the total to 48, as per data from the EC at noon.
Additionally, the BSP leads in one seat, and the AIMIM in three seats.
For Nitish Kumar, who has governed the state for nearly two decades, this election has been widely viewed as a test of both political endurance and public trust. Once celebrated as "Sushashan Babu" for pulling Bihar out of the shadows of what was often termed the "jungle raj," the Chief Minister has in recent years confronted signs of voter weariness and questions over his shifting political alignments.
Despite this, the current trends reflect a noticeable shift on the ground, indicating that voters are reposing faith in his governance model once again.