Bihar results highlights: NDA bags 202 seats, Rahul ‘truly surprised' by verdict

Bihar election results highlights: PM Modi hailed the emphatic victory of the NDA and affirmed in a jibe at the Mahagathbandhan that 'jungle raj' will never return.

Bihar election results highlights: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the people of Bihar have “voted for a developed and prosperous state by breaking all records,” as he addressed supporters at the BJP headquarters. He also revealed that the win was a result of his focus on MY - Mahila and Youth.

"In Bihar, some people had created a MY formula based on appeasement, but today’s victory has introduced a new positive MY formula - which stands for Mahila (women) and Youth," he said.

PM Modi also reiterated what he had stressed throughout the campaign: “When I spoke about jungle raj and kattas, RJD never opposed it — only Congress was hurt… Katta sarkar will never be back.”

According to data from the Election Commission of India, the NDA has surpassed the majority mark and has won 202 seats. The Mahagathbandhan managed to win only 34 and the Owaisi-led AIMIM won 5 seats.

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While exit polls had predicted the NDA's victory, no one anticipated that the allies would collectively be on course to breach the 200-mark, setting the stage for one of the most historic mandates for the alliance.

The ruling alliance oscillated between 190 and 200 seats for most part before seat-wise results started coming in.

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Bihar assembly election results | Key points

• Counting underway, trends emerge: The Election Commission of India began counting of votes at 8 am, starting with postal ballots, followed by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Trends gave a big edge to the BJP and JDU combine, showing a lead on nearly 200 seats, way beyond the halfway mark of 122. While early trends suggested that the Opposition Mahagathbandhan was putting up a strong fight, the alliance appeared to lose momentum later.
• All eyes were on Tejashwi's home turf: Trends on RJD's Tejashwi Yadav's bastion Raghopur took a dramatic turn this evening as the leader suddenly started leading on the seat after hours of trailing behind BJP's Satish Kumar. However, Tejashwi ended up leading by more than the number of votes he was earlier short of.
• Maithili Thakur wins from Alinagar: Poll debutant and BJP candidate Maithili Thakur claimed victory in Alinagar, as the ECI trends showed her leading by over 9,000 votes. She was fielded against RJD's Binod Kumar.
• Tej Pratap Yadav loses Mahua seat: Looking to redeem himself after being expelled from the RJD, Lalu Yadav's elder son Tej Pratap entered the fray on a ticket of his newly-formed Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD). However, after briefly leading in very early trends, the leader lost the Mahua seat to LJP's Sanjay Kumar Singh.
• What exit polls predicted: Days ahead of result day, most pollsters predicted a comfortable win for the NDA, which is projected to restrict Mahagathbandhan below the majority mark. While pollsters like Today's Chanakya, Matrize, P-Marq, Peoples Pulse, and poll diary predicted a landslide win for the NDA, Axis My India projected a narrow victory. While the BJP thumped its chest over the projection, the Mahagathbandhan dismissed them as attempts to create a "psychological impact".
• Bihar voter turnout: Voting for the Bihar assembly elections was held in two phases - November 6 and November 11. The first phase recorded 65.08 per cent polling, while the second logged a record 69.20 per cent, the highest the state has seen in polls held since 1951, according to the EC. While 1,302 candidates contested on 121 seats in the first phase on November 6, the remaining 1,314 contested on 122 seats on November 11 during the final phase, as per data from the Election Commission of India.