Bihar Assembly poll results: NDA retains power with three-fourth majority, decimates Mahagathbandhan

The ruling NDA decimated the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar on Friday to retain power reaffirming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s enduring appeal and dealing a body blow to the Congress and ally RJD.

The massive scale of the victory of the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) can be gauged from the fact that its two main constituents—BJP and JD(U)--are on course for an over 85 per cent strike rate in 101 seats each they had contested. The alliance is set for a “200 paar” win for a three-fourth majority with BJP emerging as the single largest party, according to latest results and trends at 11 pm.

While the BJP won 87 seats, up from 74 in 2020, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal(U) tasted success in 78 constituencies, up from 43. The majority mark in the 243-member Assembly is 122. The BJP and the JD(U) were leading in two and seven seats, respectively.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) seat tally slipped to 24 from 75 and Congress bagged only six out of the 61 seats it contested, down from 19. RJD was leading in one.

A mix of state and central welfare schemes, including the monetary aid to women as part of NDA’s women-centric outreach, a constant reminder of the “jungle raj” during the RJD rule by Modi and other NDA campaigners and the viability of a “double-engine” government appears to have largely contributed to their landslide victory.

Navigating the complex caste and community dynamics, NDA’s wider caste alliance that dented the Mahagatbandhan’s core vote bank, multiple welfare schemes targeted at Economically Backward Class(EBC) households, huge support from women who overwhelmingly supported the liquor ban and from young voters also helped the five-party alliance. One of the most striking features of this election was the extraordinary turnout of women voters.

The NDA also appeared to have done well in Muslim-dominated constituencies, signalling a possible change in voting pattern in these segments.

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), dubbed the ‘X factor’ in the Bihar polls and whose candidates were in the fray in all but three of the seats, came a cropper.

The party, floated by the former political strategist, failed to galvanise votes in its favour, despite a high-pitched campaign and raising pressing issues such as unemployment, migration and dearth of industries.

Celebrations erupted at the offices of BJP and JD(U) in Patna situated across the street from each other, with workers playing drums, bursting firecrackers and chanting slogans in praise of their respective leaders.

In front of the residence of the chief minister, the JD(U)’s 75-year-old national president, party workers posed for photographs holding aloft posters with the caption ‘Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai’.

‘Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai’—the title of a Bollywood blockbuster—neatly captured the gist of Chief Minister Kumar’s “neither tired nor in a mood to retire” stance.

Shocking his rivals, Kumar, an electrical engineering graduate, had a point to prove in the latest assembly elections, which were held amid speculation of a fatigue factor, if not downright anti-incumbency, made worse by rumours of his indifferent health. He is Bihar’s longest serving chief minister whilst also holding the post for his 9^th term.

In the run-up to the high stakes polls, Kumar, who has earned the nick name of ‘sushasan babu’ (the man of good governance), aggressively doled out benefits like hike in social security pensions and stipends for Jeevika and Aasha and Aanganwadi workers, besides the much touted ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana’, as part of which over one crore women have got Rs 10,000 each in their bank accounts.

Kumar was not in the electoral fray this time too as he has consistently taken the legislative council route to enter the state legislature.

BJP’s performance would further cement its position as the numero uno political force in the country and also offset whatever setback that might have been caused by last year’s Lok Sabha polls when the party had to rely on allies to remain in power in the Centre.

The NDA’s tally in Bihar comes in the backdrop of the BJP’s back-to-back stunning performances in Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana. Last year, BJP had won 132 of the 149 seats it had contested in Maharashtra. The strong backing to Chief Minister Kumar by Modi and his ministers during their poll campaign also appeared to have paid rich dividends for the JD(U).

The LJP(RV), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, the self-declared “Hanuman” of the Prime Minister, which was left with only 28 candidates in the fray, with nomination papers of one of its nominees getting rejected during scrutiny,  won 18 seats and was leading in one constituency.

Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwah’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha, both junior partners in the NDA, won five and four seats respectively. Both parties had contested six seats each. To consolidate Dalit support, the BJP banked on its two key allies—Manjhi and Paswan.

The Mahagathbandhan, which includes the RJD, the Congress and three Left parties, faced a crushing defeat, notwithstanding surveys and opinion polls showing its Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav as the most preferred leader for the top post.

Yadav, who according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was declared as a chief ministerial candidate after the RJD put a “katta” on the head of its alliance partners, was trailing initially before he recovered ground in Raghopur, the RJD stronghold. He defeated BJP candidate Satish Kumar by 14,532 votes.

Mahagatbahndhan also struggled to retain its strongholds. The Muslim and Yadav (M-Y) combination traditionally formed the bedrock of the RJD’s support base in Bihar.

It was an embarrassing loss of face for the Congress, often seen as a “weak link” in the INDIA bloc.

Rahul Gandhi’s poll campaign against the BJP that revolved around his “Vote Chori”(vote theft) allegations failed to garner any support.

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owais’s AIMIM, which has often been accused of being a “B-team” of the BJP, won five seats. The party had contested 32 seats.

The NDA’s victory in Bihar polls, which were held in two phases amid alleged irregularities in revision of electoral rolls by the Election Commission, is also significant as many see it as a prelude to assembly polls in West Bengal and Assam, scheduled to be held in the next six months.  —with PTI