Scrutinising the Sweep

Nitish Kumar won because he appeared more credible, while Tejashwi Yadav's promises seemed too far-fetched

- Jawhar Sircar

To learn to lose is an art, but it gets quite complex when winning becomes a crafty science. This came out in the elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a massive number of 202 seats of the total of 243. Within the NDA, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 89 seats, the Janata Dal (United) or JDU won 85, while the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) or LJPRV won 19. NDA allies such as the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) got five and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha won four seats. The opposition Mahagathbandhan (MGB) or the 'grand alliance' led by Lalu Prasad's son, Tejashwi Yadav, could procure just 35 seats in all, which stunned many. Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) managed to get just 25 of the 142 seats it contested and the Indian National Congress was shattered, winning just six seats. Allies such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation sank from its earlier 12 seats to a measly two and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) got only one. The India Inclusive Party also managed one seat.

In all, the NDA garnered about 47 per cent of the votes cast, while the MGB secured a little more than 37 per cent—a gap of 10 percentage points. In 2020, the NDA managed only 125 seats, just three above the majority mark of 122. The MGB won 110 seats, but secured 36.6 per cent of votes, while the NDA procured just a bit more—37.26 per cent.