In Bihar, fuelled by Modi factor, Nitish’s EBC, Mahadalit base, NDA trumps INDIA

While the NDA in Bihar maintained its supremacy in the Lok Sabha polls by winning 30 seats out of 40, the INDIA bloc managed to win 9 seats in the crucial heartland state as compared to just one seat that the Opposition alliance had won in the 2019 polls.

The election outcome however saw the BJP losing five of 17 seats it contested as compared to its victory in all 17 constituencies it had contested in 2019.

The NDA’s key ally JD (U), which had won 16 seats in 2019, bagged 12 seats this time. The JD(U)’s victory was even more impressive given that party president and chief minister Nitish Kumar was said to be ailing and losing his touch.

The NDA’s victory has been attributed to the Narendra Modi factor besides the point that Nitish’s constituency of Extreme Backward Classes (EBCs) and Mahadalits largely remained intact.

With both the JD(U) and the BJP winning 12 seats each, the former again emerged as a significant player in state and national politics.

Another NDA ally, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Paswan, won all five seats it contested. The party had also won all six seats it contested in the 2019 polls. LJP (RV) chief Chirag Paswan won with a huge margin from the Hajipur constituency, which had been represented in the past by his father and ex-Union minister late Ram Vilas Paswan.

Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) candidate and ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, also an NDA ally, won from the Gaya seat, defeating the RJD’s Kumar Sarvjeet.

In a setback for the NDA, Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief and ex-Union minister Upendra Kushwaha lost from Karakat to the CPI (ML)L’s Raja Ram Singh with Bhojpuri singer-actor and BJP rebel Pawan Singh playing the spoilsport for the ruling alliance. Kushwaha would be now forced to