By The People, For The People, Of The People
By Policy Fide
In the state of Bihar, with the bitter campaigning and personal spat among the candidates of the leading parties, the NDA won the state elections with a slim majority of 125 seats. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) rose as the largest party in the state, under the able leadership of Tejashvi Yadav. In the history of Bihar politics, such a nail-biting end to the elections has not been witnessed. The changing trends from hour to hour, have spoken about political dominance, charisma, and the people’s involvement and interest in Bihar Politics.
- Fourth Tenure as Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar is going in for his 4th tenure as the Chief Minister of Bihar, as the NDA Alliance crossed the 122 seats mark. However, it is the first time that BJP secured more seats than the JD(U). The initial trends in which BJP was leading, led to questions regarding whether the alliance would still exist or would BJP go with appointing a Chief Minister from their troop. However, by evening, the trends changed with Rashtriya Janata Dal being the largest party in the state.
Well, now the eyes are on who would have an upper-hand in the alliance due to the change of dynamics in electoral dominance of JD(U) and BJP.
2. A strong fight by Tejashwi
At this same time, last year Tejashwi Yadav faced criticisms for being a school drop-out and for many other things. His journey from a cricketer to a political heir is no less than a Bollywood movie script. His rise in the past four weeks has been significant and influenced the youth across the state. Despite assumptions of him lacking political maturity, his connection with the voters in the last phase of campaigning left analysts and critics amazed.
His campaign was based on economic justice and ‘Kamai, padhai, dawai and sinchai’ (jobs, education, healthcare and irrigation). He influenced youth by his firm yet a graceful way of campaigning, and with the promise of 10 lakh jobs. To compete with the existing administration, Tejashwi went ahead with creating a grand alliance (RJD+ Congress+ CPI (M) + CPI + CMP(ML)(L)), which would play a role of strong opposition in the coming five years of NDA.
3. Narendra Modi’s Charisma
Narendra Modi’s speeches, rallies have lured and fascinated the population of India for the past decade. However, it was predicted that due to the lockdown and impact of the migrant workers’ crisis, the population of Bihar might not be influenced greatly with the electoral promises made by the BJP. However, irrespective of the adversities, the NaMo (Narendra Modi) factor was effective in the Bihar election, which promoted BJP to hold more seats than its ally. While discussing Nitish Kumar’s influence, it was limited which could be seen in the low percentage of vote share. Anti-incumbency towards Nitish Kumar is one of the core reasons for this change, and it might bring an impact directly or indirectly in power division.
Unlike any other state election, Bihar results were declared late in the night. The state witnessed a close race between two leading alliances, as in around 50 seats there was a slim margin of 1000 votes.
Due to the pandemic, the Election Commission reduced voters per booth from 1500 to 1000, due to the increase in polling booths counting was significantly slow. This is the prominent reason for the delay in the announcement of the result.
6. How valid were the exit polls?
The news agencies always put up a disclaimer while sharing exit polls for a state, that they might differ from the actual results. In the case of Bihar, when the counting started, the trend was moving in support of the NDA. However, till the evening scenario turned around, due to the close competition between the alliances.
One of the analysts shared that one of the major reasons for the exit polls to differ is due to magnification and exaggeration by the people being interviewed.
7. Women in Bihar
Women voters in Bihar have been prominent players, due to the consistent rise in their turnout. Women have acted as a backbone for JD(U)’s voter base, they have also been called the ‘silent supporters’ of Nitish Kumar and his policies for women. As per the Lokniti-CSDS poll for India Today, 41% of women voters were supporting Nitish Kumar-led alliance.
This support could be based on Nitish Kumar’s policies and initiatives for reserving seats for women in Panchayat, with providing basic facilities like transportation for school girls which increased school enrolment rates.
While talking about women in Bihar, we cannot miss the female candidates which contested this election. Women from different walks of life contested, including one candidate who is an LSE Graduate to others who are homemakers. This showed the extent of diversity, representation and participation in the state elections by the women. Women of Bihar took the platform to voice and contest for the seat of Chief Minister.
It is quite interesting to ponder upon the fact that maybe if not in this election that we witness women-headed parties to gain ground in the state, hopefully we shall see them in these positions of power someday.
Finally, as the NDA has taken the lead, I hope they fulfil their promise of providing 19 lakh jobs and a vaccine. Bihar’s administration has a task at hand, and with the same Chief Minister for the fourth tenure, we hope it would be more efficient and effective.