PATNA: The Grand Alliance today routed the BJP-led NDA in Bihar to score a landslide two-thirds majority in the Assembly giving Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a third term in office in a battle in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi staked his all.
Making a spectacular comeback after the severe drubbing in the last year’s Lok Sabha polls at the hands of Modi, the newly-formed JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance secured 178 seats in the 243-member House. RJD emerged the leader of the pack with 80 seats while JD(U) bagged 71. Both the parties had contested 101 seats each. Congress also made impressive gains winning 27 seats out of 41. It had won only 4 last time.
The BJP-led NDA, for which Modi mounted an aggressive campaign addressing more than 30 rallies, bagged 58 seats. BJP on its own got 53 seats out of 157 it contested while its allies also put up a poor show. LJP, led by Ram Vilas Paswan, and RLSP of Upendra Kushwaha got two seats each. Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM won only one of the two seats he contested and lost in all the 19 others it fought in.
In the last assembly polls which JDU and BJP fought together, the two parties had got 115 and 91 seats respectively. The RJD and Congress, which had fought on their own, bagged 22 and 04 seats respectively. (AGENCIES)
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