JD(U) leader KC Tyagi lauded Nitish Kumar’s ‘charismatic’ leadership as early trends predicted an NDA government repeat in Bihar. He slammed the opposition for blaming EVMs. Early leads show the NDA has crossed the halfway mark of 122 seats.
JD(U) Leaders React to Early Trends
Lauding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “charismatic” leadership for early trends predicting a repeat of National Democratic Alliance government in Bihar, Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi on Friday said that from the beginning, his party has been saying that they would get approx 80 seats in the polls. He also slammed the opposition, accusing them of blaming the Electronic Voting Machine, the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision for their loss in the state. “Even before the elections began, it was said that JD(U) would win around 80 seats. This became possible due to the charismatic leadership of Nitish Kumar. RJD+ sometimes says that they will score a bumper victory in Bihar, but when the results come, they say that the Election Commission is at fault, the EVMs are faulty, SIR is at fault,” KC Tyagi told ANI.
Meanwhile, another JD(U) leader, Manish Verma, mentioned that the results reflect the enthusiastic environment that prevailed among people during the voting in the Bihar elections; however, he admitted that anything at this time is premature, as only a few rounds of counting have taken place. “Just as earlier there were reports from everywhere that people were very enthusiastic about the NDA in the first and second phases, that same enthusiasm is reflected in these results as well. However, since it is only 10 o’clock and only a few rounds of counting have taken place, it would not be appropriate to say anything definite yet,” he said.
Early Trends Show NDA Leading
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has crossed the halfway mark of 122, while the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan is trailing behind as per the Election Commission of India.
According to the leads on 229 seats, the NDA was leading at 167 seats, with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s lead on 71 seats and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) ahead in 72 constituencies. Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) was leading on 18 seats. The BJP and the JD(U) have maintained a high conversion rate of 67% and 64%, respectively. Mahagathbandhan was trailing behind, with a lead of just 60 seats. While Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was leading on 43 seats, its allies showed an underwhelming performance as per the early trends. Congress was leading in 8 seats, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation was leading in 6 seats. Meanwhile, AIMIM is ahead in two seats.
Key Candidates Ahead in Early Leads
Among prominent faces, Deputy CMs Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary were leading on the Lakhisarai and Tarapur seats, respectively. BJP’s Mangal Pandey was leading in Siwan, while Mahagathbandhan’s CM face Tejashwi Yadav was ahead in Raghopur.
Vote Counting Underway
Counting of votes for all 243 constituencies began at 8 am amid tight security. Officials began tallying postal ballots, with the counting of EVM votes scheduled to start at 8:30 am.
Elaborate security arrangements are in place, with 4,372 counting tables and over 18,000 counting agents overseeing the process. Most exit polls predict a comfortable victory for the NDA, with some projecting the Mahagathbandhan to win. According to the ECI’s official press note, 2,616 candidates and 12 recognised political parties participated in the two-phase polls on November 6 and 11, and none requested repolling in any constituency.
A Look at Past Elections and Alliances
The main election contest in the Bihar elections is between the National Democratic Alliance, led by CM Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav’s Mahagathbandhan. In the 2020 election, the NDA secured a majority in the assembly and won 125 seats, with Nitish Kumar again taking oath as Chief Minister.
However, in August 2022, Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the BJP and resigned as Chief Minister, forming a government with the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan. He had emerged as a key figure in the formation of the combined opposition INDIA bloc. However, Kumar’s romance with the RJD lasted for less than two years, and in January 2024, ahead of the parliamentary polls, Kumar returned to the NDA.
BJP improved its position between the 2015 and 2020 polls. It won 53 of 157 seats it contested in 2015 and 74 of 110 seats in 2020.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal has also shown a strong performance, having won 80 of the 101 seats it contested in 2015 and 75 of the 144 seats it put up candidates in during the 2020 polls. JD(U) saw a dip in its performance in the last two polls. It won 71 seats of 101 it contested in 2015 and 43 of 115 in 2020. Congress also saw a decline in performance from 27 seats it won in 2015 to 19 in 2020. (ANI)
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