Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a dozen of rallies during the campaign for the Bihar assembly elections and candidates of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are seen ahead in these segments as votes were being counted on Tuesday.
PM Modi had addressed election rallies in Sasaram, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Chapra, East Champaran, Samastipur, West Champaran, Saharsa and Forbesganj and sought votes in favour of the NDA candidates.
Rohit Pandey of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ahead of Ajit Sharma, his Congress rival in Bhagalpur, according to data from the Election Commission of India. In Darbhanga, the NDA has an edge in nine out of 10 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Suresh Kumar Sharma is also leading in Muzaffarpur. Apart from this, the BJP-JD(U) alliance has an edge in most seats in Patna. The BJP’s Alok Ranjan is leading in the Saharsa seat where the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lovely Anand is also in the fray.
According to trends available so far from the Election Commission of India, the ruling NDA in Bihar was ahead of its rivals in more than half of the state’s 243 assembly seats, with the BJP appearing set to outperform its senior alliance partner JD(U) headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD, projected in exit polls as the clear winner along with other Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance partners, was leading in 65 out of the 144 seats it contested, while the Congress, which had fielded 70 candidates, was ahead in only 21. Among other partners of the RJD-led Grand Alliance the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation or CPI-ML was leading in 14, Communist Party of India (CPI) in three and Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) in two.
As trends from all 243 seats became available, the NDA constituents were ahead in 125, with BJP candidates leading the table in 72 seats and the JD(U) in only 47. The BJP had contested 110 seats as against the JD(U)’s 115. A party or coalition of parties needs 122 seats for a simple majority.
Former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party, a fledgeling outfit that joined the NDA just ahead of the assembly polls, has established a lead in six out of 11 seats it contested.
Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party, which pulled out of the NDA and fielded a large number of BJP and JD(U) rebels, was leading in just two seats. Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) was ahead in three seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in one and Independents in seven.
The BJP, despite looking set to emerge as the single largest party if the trend continues, has so far polled 19.89% of votes counted so far against the RJD’s 22.95%. However, the BJP along with partner JD(U) has so far managed 35.43% votes against 32.13% polled by the RJD-Congress combine.
The Election Commission has said that counting of votes has been tardy because of various protocols in place in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and it may take longer than usual before results start pouring in.
