Early trends in key Indian state election show Modi’s alliance ahead

BBC:

Early trends in the eastern Indian state of Bihar show Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partner leading.

Vote counting began at 08:00 local time [02:30 GMT] and will go on for several hours before the results can be called with certainty.

Polls were held on 6 and 11 November and the state witnessed a record voter turnout of 66.91% – the highest since Bihar’s first elections in 1951, India’s Election Commission (EC) said.

The election was held after a controversial revision of electoral rolls that the opposition alleged would exclude genuine voters and give Modi’s party an edge – a charge both the BJP and EC denied.

Several exit polls have predicted a victory for the BJP’s alliance, which includes Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) as the prominent partner. The two parties currently rule the state together, with JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar as the outgoing chief minister.

Their main rival is a coalition of India’s main opposition Congress party, the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and several smaller parties.

The polls have also witnessed the entry of a new political party led by Prashant Kishor, a former political consultant who has in the past worked with both the BJP and the Congress.

Reports in the first two hours of counting have given the BJP-JD(U) alliance a clear majority in the 243-seat assembly.

But these are still early hours and the results can change and a clearer picture would emerge in the next few hours.

The Bihar polls serve as a precursor to several other key state state elections next year in West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where the BJP is not in power and has struggled to make inroads.

Bihar, with more than 74 million voters, is India’s poorest state, with millions migrating to other parts of India for jobs. It is also among the few states in India where Modi’s party has not managed to form a government yet on its own.