All eyes today are on Bihar, which will decide whether Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar – the state’s longest-serving chief minister – will secure a record fifth term or a change in government will be witnessed.
The state registered a historic voter turnout of 67.13% in the two-phase elections to the 243-member assembly that was held on November 6 and 11.
Most exit polls have predicted a clean sweep for the National Democratic Alliance, of which the JD(U) is a part. Tejashwi Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader who is the chief ministerial candidate of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), has dismissed the predictions and claimed the Mahagathbandhan would form the government with a thumping majority.
A total of 7.45 crore voters were eligible to decide the electoral fate of 2,616 candidates. Besides Tejashwi Yadav, prominent candidates of both alliances include Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD)’s Tej Pratap and Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar.
The counting of votes will begin at 8am today, and the trends and results are likely to start trickling in by 9am. A total of 46 counting centres have been enumerated by the Election Commission across 38 districts in the state.
The NDA in the state comprises five parties, though a bulk of seats were contested by JD(U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – both fielded candidates in 101 constituencies each. The INDIA bloc comprises RJD, Congress, CPI(ML) Liberation, other Left parties, and Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).