The NDA has managed to cross the required majority mark of 122 seats even though Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD emerged as the single-largest party in the 243 member Bihar assembly.

From Tejashwi Yadav’s big arrival in Bihar politics, to Nitish Kumar’s position in NDA suffering a blow and Chirag Paswan not performing for LJP as expected , here are some keytakeaways from the Bihar election result.

Thin margin keeps NDA in power

NDA has won 125 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly where 122 is the majority mark. Nitish Kumar-led NDA with JDU, BJP and the smaller parties of HAM and VIP has managed to cross the halfway mark to give Nitish Kumar his fourth term in the office.

BJP has won 74 seats while JDU has managed to bag 43 seats. Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and VP gained four seats each. Both HAM and VP joind NDA months before the Bihar election after quitting Mahagathbandhan(MGB).

RJD emerged as the single-largest party

This is the first Bihar election that RJD contested without the presence of party supermo Lalu Prasad as he is in jail after convicted in the fodder scam case. Thrity one year old Tejashwi Yadav, who was earlier a part of the Mahagathbandhan with Nitish Kumar, has announced his big arrival with RJD’s startling yet amazing performance in the Bihar assembly election 2020.

RJD has emerged as the single largest party in Bihar and won 75 seats. JDU and BJP kept reminding voters of the atrocities during RJD’s rule under Lalu Prasad Yadav 15 years ago, yet the party has managed to win big. RJD gained the highest vote share among all parties with 23.11%.

This election was a “coming of age” moment for Tejashwi Yadav after RJD’s unprecedented drubbing in the 2019 Lok Sabha election when RJD failed to open its account.

BJP gains upper hand over JDU

Bharathiya Janata Party, has always played second fiddle to Nitish Kumar’s JDU in Bihar.

However in the 2020 Bihar assembly election, BJP has managed to trump not just the MGB, but also its own alliance partner JDU.

With 74 seats, BJP did a better job comparing to 2015 tally of 53 seats, giving the party a upper hand over JDU which has been reduced to 43 seats in 2020, from its 71 seats in 2015.

Although Nitish Kumar is likely to continue as the chief minister of Bihar, BJP will be more assertive and have a greater share in the next Bihar government.

Fall of LJP

During the campaign for Bihar assembly election, Chirag Paswan started attacking Nitish Kumar over his 15 year rule in Bihar, accusing the government of mismanagement. Chirag broke ties with the NDA and announced LJP as an independent party. But LJP decided to support BJP sans JDU.

The Lok Janshakthi Party (LJP) has won just one seat and caused a significant damage to JDU and Nitish Kumar. According to reports, LJP has been instrumental in spoiling JDU’s chances in at least 30 seats.

Congress let down Mahagathbandhan

Congress has barely managed to win 19 seats in the this election, a tally lower than its own count in 2015, when Congress had won 27 seats.

Congress has performed poorly particularly in the seats where it was in direct contest with BJP and became the weakest link for the MGB.

Tejashwi Yadav’s decision to give 70 seats to Congress was a bad move that cost his party MGB a lot.

Left party win big

The Left parties contested in 29 seats in the Bihar assembly elections tying up with MGB and won 16 seats, performing better than some anticipated.

The biggest gainer was the CPI-ML, which clinched 12 seats, followed by the CPI and CPI-M, which won two each. Barring the CPI-ML, which had three seats in the outgoing assembly, none of the Left parties had a presence in Bihar assembly before this.

Surprise performance from Owaisi

Asaduddin Owaisi’s  All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) has managed to win five seats, which was a surprising turn of events. They were slammed as ‘vote cutter’and spoiler in Bihar Assembly elections, but AIMIM won five Muslim-dominated seats, giving a befitting reply to their critics.

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The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar, HR Srinivas said that earlier there used to be 25-26 rounds of counting, but this time it went up to around 35 rounds which can extend the counting till late evening.

The current trend is NDA -128, MGB- 105, OTH- 10. BJP now has 73 seats , JD(U)- 48, HAM -1, VIP-6, RJD- 66, CONG- 21, CPI-ML -11, CPM- 4, CPI-3, LJP -2, AIMM-2 , BSP-2 , RLSP-0.

The final picture in Bihar will take sometime, with counting slow due to coronavirus precautions.

However the latest trends show the NDA is ahead of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, crossing the half-way mark of 122 seats needed to secure majority in Bihar Assembly.

The BJP that remained a junior partner in the NDA in Bihar so far is going to end up having the upper hand. It is too soon to say whether the NDA forms the government or not, the BJP has succeeded in overtaking Nithish Kumar, who had love-hate relationship with Narendra Modi, as the face of the alliance.

Another significant turn of events in the election is the improvement in tally of Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakthi Party and is leading on more number of seats than last time.

Earlier the BJP had declared the Nitish would be CM if the alliance won, irrespective of who gets more seats. How LJD look at this generosity one has to wait and see.

The fate of the Nitish-led JD(U) government, which has helmed Bihar for a decade and a half, will be decided on Tuesday as election results to the 243-member legislative assembly will be declared. Besides, the fate of 3,558 candidates, including 370 women and a transgender, will also be decided. The counting of votes began at 8 am at 55 centres across 38 districts.

The results will decide if the voters have decided to hand over the state’s baton to the Grand alliance (Mahagathbandhan) led by its CM candidate Tejashwi Yadav, which constitutes the RJD, the Congress and Left parties.

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Notable among the candidates is RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, the opposition Grand Alliance’s Chief Ministerial candidate, who is seeking re-election from Raghopur in Vaishali district which he had took back for his party from the BJP’s Satish Kumar in 2015.

Also in the fray is Tejashwi’s elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav, who after shifting his base from Mahua in Vaishali is trying his luck from Hasanpur in Samastipur district.

The last day of campaigning witnessed hectic canvassing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing four back-to-back rallies in support of NDA candidates. BJP candidates are involved in 46 of the seats, while another 43 are being contested by those with JD(U) tickets. Mukesh Sahni-led Vikassheel Insaan Party, the latest entrant in the NDA, is contesting the remaining five.

A voter turnout of 55.69% was recorded in the first phase of Bihar assembly polls held on October 28, the Election Commission said in its provisional data. Polling was held 71 assembly constituencies amid tight security and COVID-19 guidelines in place.

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RJD leader Tejashawi Yadav assured that each and every promise made by the party would be fulfiled if the Grand alliance is voted to power.

Titled as “Hamara Pran” (Our Resolves), the RJD manifesto, running into 16 pages, has stressed on the promise of providing 10 lakh jobs.

The manifesto addressed 17 issues, including employment, higher education, smart villages, self-help groups, health and other basic infrastructure developments for industries and agriculture sectors.

The RJD, in its manifesto, claims that their government will set up employment centres in every district and increase MNREGA man-days to minimum 200 days.

Promising to promote industrial growth of the state, Yadav said that a new industrial policy would be brought in with effective tax differential and tax weaver scheme to encourage employment generating industries.

The party also promised to waive off job application fee for the youths of Bihar applying for jobs in the government departments.

He also laid down the plans for fulfilling the demands of office assistants, statistical volunteers, librarians, Urdu teachers, Aanganwadi workers and assistants, Asha workers, rural doctors, the Jeevika didis.

In the health care sector, RJD promised more than lakhs of direct jobs and indirect employment will be created and Jeevika cadres will be given interest-free loans.

Yadav also promised to form the Farmers Commission, Business Commission, Youth Commission and Sports Commission in Bihar.

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