After rigorous campaigning for three phases consisting of 243 assembly seats, curtains will finally com down on high voltage Bihar elections as the results come out on Tuesday. If Exit Polls are to be believed, its advantage Mahagathbandhan.
Today’s Chanakya Exit Poll has predicted the biggest seat share gap between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan. According to the Today’s Chanakya, Mahagathbandhan will likely sweep the Bihar elections with 180 seats while the NDA’s tally is expected to be restricted to 55.
The India Today-Axis Exit Poll has also followed suit and predicted 69-91 seats for NDA, 139-161 for the grand alliance and 3-5 for LJP.
The JD(U) victory could be because of the rising popularity of Lalu Yadav’s son Tejashwi across the state. He has emerged as a strong contender for CM’s post. Despite Nitish Kumar’s constant tirade, he has been drawing huge crowds in his election meetings. He also raised pertinent issues like unemployment, crime, safety, etc. that propelled people to talk about development rather than solving the caste conundrum.
Unemployment
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Bihar’s unemployment rate increased to 46.6% from 31.2% in April. Unemployment in Bihar was greater than the national rate of 23.5%. Tejashwi Yadav was the first leader who started promising to provide jobs to the youth. In the poll manifesto, Mahagathbandhan has vowed to provide 10 lakh jobs to the people of Bihar.
Also read: War of words erupts over Nitish’s ‘last election’ remark
Crime
Bihar’s increased crime graph has been talk of the town. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a rally, reminded the voters about the lawlessness the state had witnessed during the Lalu regime. He had also asked the electorate to “keep their track record in mind” while casting votes. But, the NDA couldn’t impress the voters with their own records, at least on the papers.
State Police data reveals that the absolute number of cognizable crimes in Bihar increased by a whopping 133.5 percent from 2014 to 2019. The records further revealed that the incidents of crimes against women also shot up from 8,091 in 2004 to 18,587 in 2019.
Anti-Incumbency
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been the backbone of the state. Lack of options in the opposition camp has always helped the JD(U) to keep the throne. After 15 years of his tenure, it looks like the wind is shifting its course as anti-incumbency may have derailed Kumar’s train in the state. During the election campaign, Nitish Kumar faced the heat from the voters. He was greeted with onions and anti-JD(U) slogans.
