Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday, a day before counting of votes for state polls
Patna:
Nitish Kumar, who is seeking a third straight term as chief minister, perhaps has the most at stake as votes are counted for the Bihar election today.
NDTV's exit poll showed the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance winning 110 seats.
The exit poll with a massive sample size of 76,000 people in all constituencies, showed the BJP and its three regional allies winning the state with 125 seats, three more than required in the 243-member Bihar assembly to form government.
The grand alliance projected Mr Kumar as its chief ministerial candidate pitching him directly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the face of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's campaign.
The BJP chose not to project a chief ministerial candidate in Bihar, again relying on PM Modi's appeal and party president Amit Shah's election organising skills.
For the BJP, winning Bihar is crucial, but it has other elections to fight.
As for Nitish Kumar's ally Lalu Yadav, disqualified from contesting elections by the court, he was never in the race for chief minister. He has initiated his next generation into electoral politics with these polls.
But for Mr Kumar, losing this election will not just mean stepping down from the chief minister's post after a decade.
A defeat for the grand alliance is likely to derail its larger project: an anti-BJP alliance for future assembly elections and ultimately the Lok Sabha election of 2019. And for Mr Kumar, such a derailment will put in jeopardy, any prime ministerial ambitions he may nurture.
A win on the other hand, will give Lalu Yadav the task of stitching an anti-BJP alliance, like former CPI(M) General Secretary, Harkishen Singh Surjeet did more than a decade ago.
NDTV's exit poll showed the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance winning 110 seats.
The exit poll with a massive sample size of 76,000 people in all constituencies, showed the BJP and its three regional allies winning the state with 125 seats, three more than required in the 243-member Bihar assembly to form government.
The grand alliance projected Mr Kumar as its chief ministerial candidate pitching him directly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the face of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's campaign.
The BJP chose not to project a chief ministerial candidate in Bihar, again relying on PM Modi's appeal and party president Amit Shah's election organising skills.
For the BJP, winning Bihar is crucial, but it has other elections to fight.
As for Nitish Kumar's ally Lalu Yadav, disqualified from contesting elections by the court, he was never in the race for chief minister. He has initiated his next generation into electoral politics with these polls.
But for Mr Kumar, losing this election will not just mean stepping down from the chief minister's post after a decade.
A defeat for the grand alliance is likely to derail its larger project: an anti-BJP alliance for future assembly elections and ultimately the Lok Sabha election of 2019. And for Mr Kumar, such a derailment will put in jeopardy, any prime ministerial ambitions he may nurture.
A win on the other hand, will give Lalu Yadav the task of stitching an anti-BJP alliance, like former CPI(M) General Secretary, Harkishen Singh Surjeet did more than a decade ago.
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