The sweeping victory of the Grand Alliance in Bihar Assembly elections proved all media predictions wrong.
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Modi, who led the alliance’s campaign, and BJP president Amit Shah, who camped in Bihar for months, wove together a caste alliance with the help of Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, whose MIM contested six seats and lost all, also said: “It is a personal defeat for Modi as never before has a prime minister campaigned so much in a (state) election”.
Posting on his official Twitter account Sunday, Modi wrote that he had called his opponent Nitish Kumar – the current Chief Minister of Bihar – and congratulated him on his victory. The market authorities have been already monitoring stock movements very closely for the last few days, which saw markets seeing significant volatility on the back of exit polls and other predictions during and after the five-phase polls in Bihar. The victory of the Grand Alliance has come at a time when intolerance is on the rise. It had predicted 53 seats for the AAP.
However, a BJP leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there will be no impact of the Bihar polls on Assam.
“The grand victory of Nitish ji, Lalu ji and Sonia ji is a verdict of the people of Bihar against communal, divisive and anti-poor forces”.
Indian TV channels presented somber prospects for the country’s ruling BJP, with commentators suggesting Modi – as the face of a losing campaign – would have to bear the brunt of failure.
Prasad himself is not contesting the state polls after his conviction in a corruption case but his two sons, Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, are contesting their first assembly elections.
The party, which could not even open its account in Bihar in the general elections, has benefited from joining hands with regional parties.
The turnout of 56.80% represents an increase from 52.65% during the state polls in 2010.
“Bihar polls have been historic this time, given that they went off peacefully even when there were several security concerns”.
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This may have been Modi’s last chance to win a state election before the spring of 2017. Women have voted in large numbers.
