| Name of the Candidate | Party Name | Result |
| RAJBALLABH PRASAD | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 88235 |
| INDRADEO PRASAD | Rashtriya Lok Samta Party | 71509 |
| SUDHIR KUMAR | Independent | 2435 |
| RANJEET KUMAR | Shivsena | 1500 |
| RAM JATAN YADAV | Bahujan Samaj Party | 1442 |
| SATYENDRA PRASAD YADAV | Independent | 865 |
| SAVITRI DEVI | Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) | 748 |
| SHUBHANKER SHARMA | Independent | 480 |
| SHYAM SHYAMAL | Independent | 426 |
| NITISH KUMAR RANA | Independent | 374 |
| SATISH KUMAR | Deshi Kisan Party | 346 |
| ARUN KUMAR | Independent | 278 |
| None of the Above | None of the Above | 7418 |
| AC No | Category | Poll Phases | Last Date of Nominations | Date of Polls | Result |
| 237 | GEN | Phase V | Sep 23rd 2015 | Oct 12th 2015 | Nov 8th 2015 |
Purnima Yadav is the sitting Janata Dal (United) MLA from Nawada, one of the five assembly constituencies located in the district of the same name in Bihar. In the last assembly elections to Bihar held in 2010, she retained the seat by defeating her nearest rival Raj Ballabh Prasad Yadav of the Lalu led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) by a margin of 6337 votes. In that election while Purnima Yadav polled 46568 votes, Raj Ballabh Prasad, a former Nawada legislator, secured 40231 votes.
Nivedita Singh, who entered the fray on the ticket of the Congress, came fifth with just 16018 votes. The Lok Jana Shakti Party (LJP) did not field its candidate because Nawada was allotted to the RJD under the seat sharing arrangement among them. However as things stand today, LJP is now part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The RJD, the JD(U) and the Congress have come together to check the BJP.
Earlier Purnima Yadav, wife of sitting JD (U) Gobindpur MLA Kaushal Yadav, had won both the elections to the Nawada seat in 2005 as an independent. In both the polls her nearest rival was Raj Ballabh Prasad. While in October/November 2005, Purnima Yadav had won by a margin of 2004 votes, in the previous assembly elections held in February in 2005, she had polled 53995 votes to win by a comfortable margin of 10081 votes.
Raj Ballabh Prasad had won the Nawada assembly seat in 1995 and 2000. While his win in 1995 came as an independent candidate by virtue of his victory over Kaushal Yadav, then a Congress nominee, he emerged victorious in 2000 on the ticket of the RJD by trouncing his nearest rival and independent candidate Shatrughan Prasad Singh.
Nawada was claimed by the BJP in 1990 when it candidate Krishna Prasad had defeated the sitting Congress MLA Narendra Kumar who had himself trounced him in the previous assembly polls held in 1985.
Nawada is one of the six assembly segments the combination of which goes on to create the parliamentary constituency of the same name currently held by Union minister Giriraj Singh of BJP who had won the seat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections by defeating Raj Ballabh Yadav of the RJD.
It was peaceful polling in the first phase of Bihar assembly election in which voters in 49 assembly constituencies exercised their franchise on Oct 12. The voter turnout recorded until 4 pm in Nawada 46.91%.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was shown slippers by a section of people during an election rally in Nawada. The restive crowd shouted "Modi, Modi" chant and also chanted anti-Nitish slogans at the rally. Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi dubbed CM Nitish Kumar as "satta ka bhooka" (power hungry) during a poll rally in Nawada. Manji held Nitish responsible for "estimate scam".
Manjhi said the engineers prepared estimates several times more than the actual cost of projects. Former Union minister Dr C.P. Thakur and former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi singled out Nitish for his act of betrayal and his obsession with self-centric politics. Manji, Thakur and Modi addressed four rallies in Nawada that witnessed a huge turnout of Mahadalit community.