JD(U) patron Nitish Kumar’s critics declared him “mentally unfit” to rule Bihar, floated conspiracy theories around his health, and many predicted a collapse of his party. But as the countig of votes for the Bihar Assembly elections began on Friday, Kumar has flipped the story as the Janata Dal (United) almost doubled its tally from 43 seats in 2020, helping the NDA to go well above the majority mark in trends.
According to the latest Election Commision trends at 1.20 pm, JD(U) was leading in 76 of the 101 seats it contested in this year’s Bihar elections.
If the trends hold, this would JDU’s best performance in a decade. In 2015, it contested 101 seats and won 71 and 43 of 115 in 2020.
JDU ally BJP, which also contested an equal number of seats, was ahead in 86. Over all, the NDA-led alliance was leading in an unprecedented 199 seats.
The Opposition RJD’s Mahagathbandhan alliance was ahead in just 39 seats. Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj Party also failed to leave its mark as its candidates were trailing on every seat it contested.
While these are trends and the picture will be more clearer in another couple of hours, one thing was all but certain – Nitish Kumar is not over yet.
If this was his last election, as some have predicted, he has made it memorable and looked all set to become the Bihar Chief Minister for a historic 10th term.
While how he managed to turn the tables will be for the political pundits to decode, it is safe to assume his governance initiatives, including pensions for widows, the elderly, and differently-abled individuals, doubling salaries for school night guards and PT teachers and Rs 10,000 assistance to around a crore women, might have shifted the public perception.
If the trends hold, Kumar-led NDA will sweep the Bihar polls, and his political rivals will be routed.
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