Bihar floor test: How Nitish Kumar won trust vote amid suspense and twists

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won the floor test in the absence of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly on Monday. As many as 129 MLAs voted in favour of the Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Speaker announced the results as opposition leaders, including those from 's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), walked out of the state assembly just ahead of the trust vote. The floor test was held for the Nitish Kumar-led government to prove that it had support of the majority of the MLAs in the assembly.

The crucial floor test of Nitish Kumar grabbed the eyeballs as it remained suspenseful amid fear of NDA and RJD MLAs switching sides. The twists and turns witnessed since the beginning of the day couldn't stop Nitish Kumar from winning the trust vote. Here's a look at how Nitish Kumar won the no-confidence motion amid the lingering suspense.

of the voting on the confidence motion in the assembly on Monday. This was despite the JD(U) and the NDA — which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one independent candidate —

Of the 129 MLAs, 126 (of 128) were reportedly from the ruling alliance and three were from the RJD. The question is, who are the two MLAs from the NDA who didn't vote for Nitish Kumar's government? Sources were quoted by Hindustan as saying that JDU MLA Dilip Rai abstained from voting in the floor test.

Just before the floor test, the Bihar Assembly passed the no-confidence motion against Bihar Assembly Speaker and RJD leader Awadh Bihari Choudhary. During the no-confidence motion, 125 members voted in favour of the resolution brought by the ruling NDA alliance and 112 against.

The question arises: