Patna: Counting of votes for the high-stakes Bihar assembly elections began at 8 AM on Friday, and early trends point to a strong performance by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
As of 11:30 AM, the NDA was leading in 190 constituencies, while the Mahagathbandhan trailed with 49 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone surged past the halfway mark of 50 leads, establishing an advantage in 84 seats.
Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial face, Tejashwi Yadav, held a lead in the Raghopur constituency. Meanwhile, singer-turned-politician Maithili Thakur, contesting her first election on a BJP ticket, was ahead in Alinagar.
The outcome across all 243 assembly seats will determine whether JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, the state’s longest-serving chief minister, secures a fifth straight term or if Bihar is headed for a political shift.
Bihar recorded a historic voter turnout of 67.13% in the two-phase elections held on November 6 and 11.
Although most exit polls projected a sweeping victory for the NDA, Tejashwi Yadav dismissed the forecasts, asserting that the Mahagathbandhan would return to power with a “massive majority.”
Prominent contestants in this election include Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, JJD’s Tej Pratap, and Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Kumar.