The Bhartiya Janta Party is celebrating its massive victory in the central state of Bihar. The Prime Minister’s alliance secured a landslide victory after winning 202 out of the 243 seats in the assembly elections.
In a speech post the results, Mr Modi stated that the victory was not only their victory in the state but also a victory for democracy. The elections in Bihar were held after an intensive SIR exercise, which was criticised by the opposition as a move to delete genuine voters and give an edge to the BJP. The charge was, however, denied by the BJP as well as the Election Commission, which was responsible for conducting the exercise.
The elections were conducted between November 6 to November 11, with the state recording its highest ever voter turnout since its first elections in 1951. The turnout was 66.51%, and the elections were also important as Bihar has the youngest population in India; the win shows the political inclination of the majority of youth.
Exit polls before the results also predicted that the BJP’s alliance, along with the Janata Dal, would win the elections. The Janata Dal candidate, Nitish Kumar, is the outgoing chief minister and is expected to return for another term. The main rival party was the alliance between Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, with some smaller parties that lost by a wide margin.
BJP-JD(U )’s win is said to be due to the high women voters who form half the voting population in the state. The elections also marked the highest ever women voters turnout with 71.6%. This led both parties to offer schemes to attract the women voters, and as per experts, the BJP-led alliance has won the voters with their scheme.
