The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance looks set to re-assert its dominance over Bihar. However, of the total 4.5 crore votes, nearly 2.5 crore are still to be counted and the contest is still on with 23 seats with the margin of lead being less than 1,000 votes. Also, on more than 100 seats the margin of lead is less than few thousands. Though the alliance has remained ahead so far racing past the halfway mark in the 243-member Bihar assembly but the anger against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is clearly visible as his party Janata Dal (United) is trailing in a chunk of seats.

The BJP, which has always played a second fiddle in Bihar, may deprive Nitish Kumar’s party JD(U) of its ‘Big Brother’ status in the alliance if the current trends translate into wins.

The latest leads show the NDA ahead in 128 seats, while Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan in 104 seats.

Full list of constituencies where the vote margin currently is under 1,000 votes

Usually, the election results in India are in by noon but the Bihar election 2020 – the first polls during the pandemic situation – are different as due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Election Commission had reduced the maximum number of voters at a polling booth from 1,500 to 1,000. This increased the total number of polling booths. In the 2015 Bihar Assembly election, the number of polling booths was 73,000. This election, it went up to 1.06 lakh. More polling stations meant more electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the officials counting votes at the counting centres.

Counting of votes began at 8 am, and the Opposition alliance led by Tejashwi was off to an early lead over NItish Kumar-led NDA. But the lead narrowed soon enough and by 11 am the picture was changed completely with NDA leads crossing the majority mark of 122 seats. The shift to an NDA lead happened over the next hour and has held since.