Bihar Polls: In 33 Seats, Mahagathbandhan’s Defeat Margin Was Smaller Than Votes Polled by LJP or BSP

Out of the 33 seats, there are 7 seats where the defeat margin for MGB is less than 2,000 votes–even less than 500 in 4 of them

Mumtaz Alam | NEW DELHI

The just-concluded elections to the Bihar legislative assembly have revealed such close battles that political parties and poll analysts are still busy diving deep into the results data to find out what went right or wrong and where.

In the tight race, BJP-led NDA secured 125 seats in the 243-member House to remain in power and the journey of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (MGB) stopped at 110.

Results data shows that NDA, particularly JDU, lost several seats due to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). But at the same time, there are 30 seats where the defeat margin of MGB is smaller than the votes polled by the same LJP alone. At 3 other seats also, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got more votes than the defeat margin of MGB.

Out of the 33 seats, there are 7 seats where the defeat margin for MGB is less than 2,000 votes–even less than 500 in 4 of them.

RJD lost most of those seats–15–followed by the Congress with 13, CPI-ML(L) 3 and CPI lost 2 seats.

On the other side, JDU won most of those seats–26–followed by the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM) with 3 seats and BJP and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) with 2 seats each.

Besides, there is one seat (Gopalganj) where the BSP candidate got more votes (41,039 votes) than the Congress (36,460 votes). Here, Nationalist Congress Party candidate Sikandar Azam got 1,131 votes. The seat was won by BJP.

Compared to the 2015 assembly elections, BJP has emerged as the biggest gainer in this poll as it increased its tally from 53 to 74. But JDU has suffered the biggest loss as its tally went down from 71 in 2015 to 43 in 2020.

Outside NDA and MGB camps, the biggest gainer this time is AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi which has won 5 seats, its highest tally in Assembly polls outside Telangana. AIMIM has won 4 out of 5 seats by defeating NDA candidates.