Patna: The NDA was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the BJP emerging as single largest party with about 95 percent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
The Mahagathbandhan, which includes the RJD, the Congress and three Left parties, seemed to be poised for a crushing defeat, notwithstanding surveys and opinion polls showing its chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav as the most preferred leader for the top post. The Opposition alliance was barely poised to cross the 35-seat mark.
As per latest results available on the Election Commission website (at the time of writing this report), the ruling NDA had secured a three-fourth majority, winning 183 seats in the 243-member House so far.
The BJP had also emerged as the largest party, winning 83 seats and leading in six other constituencies.
Its ally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), had won 75 seats and was ahead in 10, while Union minister Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) had bagged 17 and was ahead in two other seats.
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), headed by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, won five seats, while Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha won three seats and was leading in one.
Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and state ministers Prem Kumar, Maheshwar Hazari and Sanjay Saraogi and BJP’s Maithili Thakur were among prominent winners from the NDA camp.
RJD leader and INDIA bloc’s CM face Tejashwi Yadav, the late Mohammad Shahabuddin’s son Osama Shahab and CPI(ML) Liberation’s Sandeep Saurav were among prominent winners from the opposition camp.
The INDIA bloc managed to win only 32 seats so far. The RJD bagged 23 seats and was leading in two other constituencies, while the Congress won six seats, the CPI(ML) Liberation two seats and the CPI(M) one.
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM won five seats.
The BJP and the JD(U) contested 101 seats each, while their ally LJP (RV) put up candidates in 28 constituencies.
In the INDIA bloc, the RJD fought in 141 seats, while the Congress contested 61 constituencies and the CPI(ML) Liberation 20.
A high turnout of women, who outnumbered male voters by nearly 10 percentage points, seems to have clinched the deal in favour of the BJP-led coalition, as various studies have suggested that females, especially in Bihar, are more inclined towards the NDA.
The NDA’s tally in Bihar comes in the backdrop of the BJP’s back-to-back stupendous performances in Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana.
Firm backing to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by Modi and his ministers also appeared to have paid rich dividends for the JD(U), which seems poised to drastically improve its tally since 2020, when it had won only 43 seats.
A simple majority to form the government in Bihar is 122.
Among the issues that are understood to have struck a chord with the people are promises of “double engine growth”, with NDA in power both in the state as well as the Centre, 125 units of free power every month, hiked social security pensions and Rs 10,000 given to over 1 crore women. The opposition was also unable to counter the BJP’s claim that under Tejashwi Yadav’s leadership, the RJD was still “jungle raj wearing new clothes”.
The victory in the Bihar polls, which were held in two phases amid alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls by the Election Commission, is also significant as many see it as a prelude to assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam, scheduled to be held in the next six months.
Celebrations erupted at the offices of the BJP and JD(U) here, situated across the street from each other, with workers playing drums, bursting firecrackers and chanting slogans in praise of their respective leaders.
