The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) registered an astounding victory in Bihar, bagging 39 out of the 40 seats, eight more than it won in 2014.
The JD (U), which was not a part of the alliance in 2014, joined the NDA in 2017 and went to the Lok Sabha elections with the BJP and LJP, winning 16 out of its share of 17 seats. BJP had fought on equal number of seats wining all while the third alliance partner, LJP, that contested six seats, also won all its six seats.
The alliance of BJP-JD(U)-LJP proved a formidable combination for the opposition which was decimated across the state with Muslim dominated Kishanganj proving an exception as the JD (U) candidate Syed Mahmood suffered defeat against Congress candidate Mahmood Javed.
Among the prominent winners were six Union ministers from Bihar, Radha Mohan Singh, RK Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav, Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Giriraj Singh.
In Begusarai, Giriraj defeated CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar with a massive margin of more than four lakh votes. Though the Giriraj-Kanhaiya contest was a complete no-brainer in Bihar, some Delhi based media channels had hyped the contest for the sake of TRPs. A few Left leaning individuals like lyricist Javed Akhtar and his actress wife Shabana Azami had canvassed for Kanhaiya. The RJD was relegated to the third position in the seat.
RJD had contested 19 seats leaving the Ara seat for CPI (ML) while Congress fought nine seats, HAM-S and VIP contested three each while RLSP fielded candidates from five seats. All suffered the same fate.
Farmers voted vigorously in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi contradicting the opposition’s claim that there was a deep anguish among the peasants against the Modi government due to its faulty farm policies.
NDA’s victory on seats with 40% or more Muslim voters also drove home the point that the minorities this time were not averse to the BJP and its allies.
All the regional self-proclaimed caste leaders – former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, former union minister Upendra Kushwaha, Mukesh Sahni and Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi’s eldest daughter,Misa Bharti lost badly. RLSP chief had contested from two seats, Ujiarpur and Karakat and lost in both.
Former union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh who many political pundits had predicted to win because of his clean image also lost from Vaishali.
Shatrughan Sinha, who had left BJP and joined Congress on the poll eve when denied ticket also lost to union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Former Bihar ministers Jagadanand Singh and Abdul Bari Siddiqui were other notable names who lost their political battles miserably.
Elated over the unprecedented win, chief minister Nitish Kumar said, “The mandate is a bigger responsibility on us. People of Bihar have expressed their feelings in the form of their votes. We would now be more committed to the development of state and its people.”
He reiterated his resolve to get Bihar the special state status soon.
Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai also lauded the NDA leaders’ efforts for the near whitewash. “Probably for the first time, people cutting across caste and religious barriers in Bihar came out openly to vote for the Narendra Modi led government at the Centre,” he said, adding, “It was an election for protecting nation’s pride and development for all.”
Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav said people of Bihar have eventually realized that only a government led by Narendra Modi could ensure development for all sections of the society and do good for the nation and them.
