Bihar election results: Prime Minister Modi and Nitish Kumar led their parties to victory in Bihar
New Delhi:
After weeks of bitter campaigning, three phases of voting, more than 15 hours of counting and accusations of cheating, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was announced as the winner of the Bihar elections in the (very) early hours. Wednesday. Fueled by the demonstrations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NDA reached the majority mark of 122 in the 243-member Assembly. The BJP won 72 seats to emerge as the leading member in its alliance with Nitish Kumar’s JDU, which won just 42. The opposition, led by RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, fought hard but ultimately fell short. However, with 75 seats, the RJD emerged as the largest party. Congress, considered by many to be the reason for the opposition’s failure to go all the way, contested 70 seats but only won 19. Chirag Paswan’s LJP, which was the source of much frustration for Nitish Kumar, won just one seat.
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Ruling JDU-BJP touched the majority mark around 3 a.m. after a close contest with Mahagathbandhan led by RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav. By 3.17am, the BJP had won 72 seats and the JDU 42, with the two parties leading the way in the last three undeclared seats. The two smallest members, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, and the Vikassheel Insaan Party, each won four seats. The BJP is now the big brother in its relationship with the JDU, something that it has never been and that could affect the election of the prime minister, and some party leaders in the state feel that Nitish Kumar can no longer make the decision.
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The opposition started the day well, taking an early lead before being held back and reviewed by the BJP. Tejashwi Yadav, whose mastermind of the RJD campaign heralded him as a worthy successor to his father Lalu Yadav’s throne, produced a perfect score for his party: 75 seats contested, 75 seats won. By contrast, Congress, which many have suggested is to blame for the opposition’s failure, won only 19 of 70 seats; eight less than it achieved in 2015. The three left-wing parties won 16 seats among them, of which 12 were for the PCI (Marxist-Leninist).
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Shortly before the results were confirmed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Interior Minister Amit Shah tweeted and thanked the people of Bihar for “supporting the NDA development agenda.” Prime Minister Modi said the NDA “would work for the balanced development of each person, each region” of the state. Mr Shah said: “Every section of Bihar has … endorsed the development agenda of the NDA” and added: “This is a victory for PM Modi and Nitish Kumar twin engine development.”
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Late Tuesday night, the RJD and Congress accused Nitish Kumar and his deputy, Sushil Modi of the BJP, of ordering election and district officials to favor the JDU-BJP in close contests. The Election Commission, to whom the opposition said it would complain, dismissed such claims and said the results had been delayed only because of additional measures implemented during the coronavirus lockdown.
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The results leave Nitish Kumar’s dreams of a sixth term as prime minister in the hands of the BJP. In the run-up to the elections, and throughout the campaign, the party repeatedly said that Nitish Kumar would continue in the top position if the NDA retained power, regardless of the performance of the respective parties. It’s no secret that a section of the party’s leaders would rather see Nitish Kumar out, and these results give them more ammunition. The JDU has already fired a warning shot: party leader KC Tyagi reminded the BJP of his promise and noted that the BJP needed the support of the JDU to form the government.
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The campaign for the Bihar polls was fierce and relentless, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar and Yogi Adityanath (his UP counterpart) and BJP President JP Nadda among the big names in action for the NDA. For the opposition, Tejashwi Yadav often appeared to be the only voice in the attack; Rahul Gandhi addressed a handful of demonstrations, but no one else from Congress made an appearance in Bihar.
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The election highlighted the growing fissures in the JDU-BJP relationship. The apparent distancing unleashed barbs from the opposition, with Tejashwi Yadav and Chirag Paswan of the LJP attacking. The way the BJP handled Mr. Paswan further enraged Mr. Kumar; the LJP broke away from the NDA to compete independently and relentlessly targeted it. The JDU leaders felt that this was happening with the tacit approval of the BJP because Mr. Paswan was seen as an effective counterbalance to Nitish Kumar and a way to keep him under control.
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The themes of the campaign focused primarily on unemployment, and Yadav’s offer of 10 lakh of government jobs struck a chord. The claim left Nitish Kumar visibly irritated on numerous occasions, with the Chief Minister attacking an “inexperienced” Tejashwi Yadav and making personal comments about Lalu Yadav. On one occasion, Mr. Kumar was thrown onions. However, the employment tactic was interesting enough that the BJP jumped on board and promised 19 lakhs of jobs, much to Nitish Kumar’s chagrin.
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Aside from the strong performance of the left-wing parties and the eight seats won by smaller allies in the NDA, the other winner was Asaduddin Owai’s AIMIM, who claimed five seats. Mr. Owaisi was asked, when it was still feasible for the opposition to form a government, if he would assist in such efforts. He said: “We will decide who to support only after the last vote is counted. We believe in supporting only a truly secular party.”
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The results of the Bihar elections, the country’s largest political exercise amid the coronavirus pandemic, were delayed due to Covid-related restrictions and measures, the Electoral Commission said on Tuesday. These measures included a 63 percent increase in EVM and nearly doubling the number of polling places, from 65,000 in 2015 to 1.02 lakh this year. The election itself saw other restrictions, including limitations on the number of people allowed in each booth and an extra hour of voting.
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