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Bihar Election Result 2020: Nitish Kumar could bounce back. But he may not get the credit for NDA’s show
Bihar Assembly Election Result 2020: Nitish Kumar’s party’s claim that it was the senior partner in the NDA in Bihar could come under a strain.
The National Democratic Alliance fronted by Nitish Kumar is leading on 126 seats, defying projections by most exit polls that had predicted a humiliating defeat for the ruling alliance and a clean sweep for the Tejashwi Yadav-led Grand Alliance.
This may be the second time in five years that Bihar could prove the pollsters wrong. Exit polls had mostly misread the 2015 elections too. This time, only one released by Dainik Bhaskar had predicted a majority for the NDA.
The NDA’s leads come as a huge relief for Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United that was seen to be on the verge of losing power earlier in the morning. Senior JDU leader KC Tyagi even appeared to have conceded defeat when the rainbow coalition stitched together by Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav raced ahead in the initial rounds of counting. Tyagi, however, insisted that the NDA hadn’t been defeated by the RJD but multiple factors including the economy and Covid-19.
But Tyagi had spoken too soon.
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As election officials continued to count the votes, the crowds outside Tejashwi Yadav’s house melted away and Nitish Kumar’s official residence at Anne Marg 200 metres away started buzzing with activity.
The trends that emerged during the first half of counting indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had reconciled to its status of an equal, if not a junior partner in the alliance with Nitish Kumar’s party, would power the NDA’s win in Bihar.
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At 8 pm, the NDA, according to data provided by C Voter, was still holding to leads on 126 seats but it was the BJP that was set to emerge as the single largest party in the alliance with 72 seats. Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United, which has traditionally counted itself as the big brother in the alliance, was at a third spot. The Rashtriya Janata Dal was emerging as the largest single party, leading on 73 seats.
BJP leaders who shuttled between television studios, however, insisted that the JDU’s depleted numbers wouldn’t cost Nitish Kumar the chief minister’s post. But all of them did rush to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi credit for the NDA’s performance in the elections that neutralised the anti-incumbency against the outgoing Nitish Kumar-led government.
“When all the results come in, the NDA would be able to form the government,” said senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, adding that he was hopeful that the JDU’s strike rate - the proportion of seats won vis a vis the number of seats contested - would be as good as the BJP.
He also acknowledged that Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, which had walked out of the NDA in Bihar and targeted Nitish Kumar through most of the campaign, did cost the alliance seats.
“But yes, if LJP contested together with us then the results would have been even better. We cannot undo what happened, so it is not appropriate to comment on it. But still, I am happy that despite the worrying exit poll results, it is clear that NDA will definitely form the government,” he said, according to Republic TV.
Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal insisted that there was no dispute over the leadership role in the state if the alliance comes back to power.“The issue has been cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief J P Nadda much before the elections,” he said.
