The Lok Sabha election results in Bihar have made it clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charm still holds sway in the state, but the trust in Nitish Kumar remains unshaken as well. Breaking down caste barriers, voters have cast their ballots in the name of Brand Modi, yet their confidence in Nitish is evident.
With the NDA's impressive tally of 30 seats in Bihar, it's a key factor for Modi to helm the NDA government for the third term. As per the Lok Sabha results, the BJP bagged 12, JD(U) 12, LJP (Ram Vilas) 5, and HAM 1 seat in the Bihar NDA fold.
BJP and JD(U) Secure 12 Seats Each
The BJP has won 12 out of 17 seats, while Nitish Kumar's JD(U) fought for 16 and won on 12 seats. Meanwhile, Chirag Paswan's party claimed victory in all 5 contested seats. JD(U)'s performance in Bihar makes it clear that Nitish Kumar's decision to leave the alliance and join the NDA in January was astute and pivotal.
At that time, Kumar's party had 16 members, and sources suggest all of them urged a return to the NDA, believing they needed the pull of Brand Modi to get re-elected in the Lok Sabha elections. 2019 bore witness to this when the party won 16 out of 17 seats.
Limited Gains for RJD
On the other hand, despite Tejashwi Yadav's intense campaign, RJD could only seize 4 seats out of the 23 it contested. In the grand alliance, the Congress also claimed 3 out of the 9 seats it battled for. Consequently, the alliance's triumph in Bihar was confined to just 10 seats.
In the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, JD(U)'s victory in 12 out of 16 seats was also bolstered by Narendra Modi's popularity. During the campaign, people believed that Nitish Kumar's frequent shifts in the past years had eroded his reliability.
However, the election results have once again shown that voters trust Kumar's party. The major vote share from the Mahadalit community and women has led to JD(U)'s splendid performance. Yet, NDA's tally in Bihar has dropped from 39 in 2019 to 30 this time. RJD's failure to gain more seats is attributed to the lack of ground support for Tejashwi Yadav among the masses.
