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Bihar election results: NDA closes the gap as counting moves forward
The RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the 2015 election. This time too, the exit polls gave it an edge over the NDA.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is fast closing the gap with the rival grand alliance as counting in Bihar Assembly election heads into its second hour.
While the ruling Janata Dal (United) is part of the NDA this time, the challenger grand alliance has Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and three Left parties as its constituents.
According to C Voter data, the NDA is leading in 110 seats and the grand alliance is ahead in 124 at 9:25 am. The gap of about 30 seats has now narrowed down to 15. Shortly after the counting of votes started at 8 am, the grand alliance took early leads but the NDA is now catching up.
Full Coverage: Bihar Assembly election
The election was held in the state’s 243 constituencies in three phases - 71 on October 28; 94 on November 3 and 78 on November 7.
Bihar election 2020: Know party alliances
Most of the exit polls, released shortly after the polling in third and final phase got over, gave RJD an edge over the NDA. The election result will be announced later today after several rounds of counting.
The counting of votes is being held at 55 counting centres across 38 districts of Bihar. Over 7,29,27,396 electors were eligible to vote in Bihar polls and the voter turnout was at 57.05 per cent, which was 0.39 per cent higher than the 2015 election.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) have been imposed in and around the counting centres to prevent the gathering of people.
Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which is fighting the election alone, has made it a triangular contest. Pawan left the NDA over differences with Nitish Kumar and his party. To be sure, the LJP chief has made it clear that his party still supports the BJP at the Centre.
Bihar polls: Track constituency details
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is eyeing his fourth term with ally BJP by his side. In 2015, however, Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) fought polls with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress as part of the grand alliance. The BJP-led NDA had fought the elections with LJP and other allies.
The RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the 2015 election, followed by JD(U), paving way for Nitish Kumar to take oath as Bihar chief minister for the third term. The BJP was reduced to 53 seats and got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent).
