Preliminary Trends Show NDA Leading Bihar Elections
The early trends of the three phase Bihar assembly elections show a nip and tuck competition with the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) clearly on a lead. According to the trends NDA is ahead with 125 seats whereas the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) and its allies are near 101 seats. In Bihar a coalition would require 122 seats to form the government.
The Great Grant Alliance, constituting of the RJD, Congress and left parties, have been shown having a clear edge over the Bharatiya Janata Dal- Janta Dal (United) alliance in exit polls. The polls also predicted that Lok Janshakti Party will win seats only in singular digits. The Bihar state assembly has 243 constituencies and there are 2,558 candidates in the wear out which includes one transgender person and 370 women candidates. This year the voter turnout was 57.05% slightly higher than the figures of the 2015 assembly election i.e. 56.66%.
The issues that the Mahagathbandhan mounted the campaign on were “kamaai, padhai, dawai, sichai” (income, education, medication, irrigation). While the BJP was cognizant of the rising anti-incumbency factor of Nitish and the JD(U), their campaign majorly focused on national issues and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In his speeches Nitish largely spoke about ‘misgovernance’ under Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi as compared to his 15 years of rule in Bihar.
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