The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was announced as the winner of the Bihar Election on Wednesday. Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), that bagged 75 seats, was declared the single-largest party.
Addressing BJP workers after the victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi- who had led rallies in Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Sasaram, Bhagalpur among other places ahead of the election- attributed the win to the “development works in Bihar”.
“People have decided that development alone will be basis of national politics in 21st century,” he said.
The secret to winning Bihar elections is 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwaas'. It is a victory of the development works in Bihar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/ZjpecSPjac
— ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2020
While the BJP won 74 seats, its ally and outgoing chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) won 43. The BJP had contested 110 seats, while the JDU had contested 115. The NDA clinched the election with a simple majority.
Taking to Twitter, Kumar wrote: “The public is the owner. Janta-Janardan is grateful for the majority he provided to the NDA. I thank PM Shri @narendramodi for the cooperation we have been getting from him.”
जनता मालिक है। उन्होंने NDA को जो बहुमत प्रदान किया, उसके लिए जनता-जनार्दन को नमन है। मैं पीएम श्री @narendramodi जी को उनसे मिल रहे सहयोग के लिए धन्यवाद करता हूँ।
— Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) November 11, 2020
During elections, the RJD had alleged that the government was interfering in the election process.
While the Congress won 19 seats, the CPI-ML Liberation won 12, and the AIMIM won five.
According to the figures released by the Election Commission (EC), over seven lakh or 1.7% of voters opted for the NOTA option.
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The BJP’s strike rate has increased since the last election, while it significantly decreased for the Congress and RJD. In the 2015 Bihar elections, the BJP had contested 157 seats as an opposition to JD(U) and RJD and had won in 53 of them. The strike rate of BJP has increased this year to 67.3% from 33.75% in 2015 and for the RJD, it has dropped from 72.9% (in 2015) to 52% this year.
With a stark improvement from the 2015 polls, where they had contested 98 seats and had won three with a strike rate of less than 4%, the CPI-ML (Liberation) won 12 seats of the 19 seats that they contested in. They have a strike rate of 63.15% this year. The strike rate of RJD-led Mahagatbandhan, comprising Congress, RJD and CPI-ML (Liberation), was brought down by the Congress which slid by 38%, from a striking 65.85% in 2015 to 27.14% this year.