Soumya Maniyar
11th November 2020
The third and last phase of voting for Bihar Assembly elections concluded on November 7 (Source- PTI)
BJP has put up a winning performance in the Bihar Assembly polls leading the ruling NDA to obtain a majority. The Election Commission of India announced the results of the polls in the early hours of Wednesday. The NDA won an absolute majority in Bihar, winning 125 seats, three more than the halfway mark needed for a victory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for its hard work on the ground. PM Modi also congratulated Janta Dal (United) candidate Sunil Kumar on Wednesday for winning the Lok Sabha by-poll to Valmiki Nagar in Bihar. Kumar defeated Parvesh Kumar Mishra of the Congress by over 22,500 votes, which were counted on Tuesday, reported the Times of India.
Around 7 lakh voters in Bihar used NOTA or the None of the Above option during the election, reports News18. This accounts for around 1.69 per cent of the electorate.
According to the data on the Election Commission’s website, the BJP won 72 seats to emerge as the senior member in its alliance. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s led JDU secured 42 seats, and together the NDA emerged as the sole winner, reported the NDTV.
The opposition, led by the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, put up a strong fight but eventually fell short. The party managed to hold up to 75 seats, becoming the single-largest party. The Congress contested 70 seats but won only 19. This was viewed by many as the reason for the failure of the opposition RJD. Chirag Paswan’s LJP won just one seat.
It was a tough election for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as he faced multiple challenges in his bid for the fourth successive term in office. The opposition Rashtriya Janta Dal-led Mahagathbandhan gained momentum as the campaigning progressed before the elections.
The ruling party could not win even half of the seats it contested in this election. However, their number was enough to provide a pillow to the strong performance of the BJP to take the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) past the majority mark in the 243-member house.
On the other hand, the opposition’s performance was commendable and was down compared to its performance in the 2015 elections. Tejashwi Yadav emerged as the crowd-puller, drawing huge cheers at every rally with his promise of signing off on 10 lakh government jobs at his very first cabinet meeting. They posed a tough fight for the ruling party as the Great Alliance’s all five constituents together won a total of 110 seats.
The third and final phase of elections to the Bihar Assembly took place on Saturday, November 7. The election was by and large peaceful, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) registering 54.06 per cent polling in 78 constituencies in 15 districts.
Muslim-dominated Kishanganj witnessed 59.77 per cent polling, Supaul 57.90, Saharsa 55.73, and Purnea 55.63. Other districts like East Champaran has registered polling percentage of 54.78, Sitamarhi 52.27, Araria 50.90, Madhepura 54.03, Muzaffarpur 54.54, Drabhanga 55.03, Samastipur 52.76 and Vaishali 49.97 till 5 pm on November 7, reported the Mid-day.com.
According to a report by the Mid-Day.com, over 92 per cent of the 1,33,136-strong electorate had cast their votes in by-poll to the four assembly seats in Manipur on November 7, amid elaborate security and strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols. Manipur’s Joint Electoral Officer Karam Bono Singh said, reported the Mid-Day.com, “Maintaining COVID-19 protocols, the voters joined the voting queue in many places before opening the polling stations at 7 am.”
(Sources-The Times of India, News18, NDTV, Mid-Day.com)
Edited by- Nivedita Dutta