Update at 5 pm
The Janata Dal (United) has won two seats in the Bihar Assembly elections, the Election Commission website shows.
The JD (U) candidate in Kusheshwar Asthan Assembly Constituency (AC) defeated the Congress rival by 7,222 votes while in the Sakra AC the JD (U) won the seat by defeating the nearest Congress rival by 1,537 votes.
Now 3 seats out of the 243 seats in Bihar have been declared.
Update 4.30 pm
Our Bureau
The first seat in the 243 seat Bihar Assembly has gone to the Rashtriya Janata Dal with its candidate defeating the Janata Dal United candidate by 2141 votes, the Election Commission website shows.
In results for the by-polls which have also started trickling in, the Bharatiya Janata Party has won three of the eight seats for which by-polls were held in Gujarat, as per the EC website.
In Abdasa Assembly Constituency the BJP candidate defeated the Congress rival by 36,778 votes while in Morbi the BJP candidate won by 4,649 votes, the website shows. The BJP is leading in the five other seats for which by polls were held in the state, the website shows.
Update 4.12 pm
With the NDA leading in 128 of the 243 seats in Bihar assembly, BJP State chief Sanjay Jaiswal said there is no dispute regarding who will lead the government if the alliance returns to power in the state. A party or a coalition requires 122 seats to form the government in Bihar.
“The issue has been cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief JP Nadda much before the elections,” he said, while responding to a query whether Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will lead the NDA government if the alliance secures a majority in the assembly.
Earlier in the day, the JD(U) exuded confidence that the NDA will again form a government in Bihar under Kumar. “I have been saying this for a long time that the NDA will form the government under the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar. The opposition ran a misleading campaign with several allurements to woo voters,” state JD(U) chief Vashishtha Narayan Singh told reporters here.
When asked whether the BJP or the JD(U) will lead the government, Singh too said that PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda have made it “amply clear” on several occasions as to who will lead the government.
As per trends available till 4 pm, the NDA was leading in 128 seats -- the BJP in 75, the JD(U) in 48 and the VIP in five. The Grand Alliance, on the other hand, was leading in 101 seats -- the RJD in 63, the Congress in 21, the CPI (ML) Liberation in 12, the CPI(M) in three and the CPI in two.
The AIMIM was leading in four seats, the HAM in three, the BSP in two and the LJP in one. Independent candidates were ahead in four constituencies. (PTI)
Update 4.05 pm
The BJP is leading in 77 seats, while its alliance partner JD(U) is leading in 48 seats. The RJD is leading in 63 seats, and it has won 1 seat. The Congress is leading in 20 seats.
Election trends from Bihar at 4 PM. - ECI
Update 3.46 pm
The JD(U) has established a lead of more than 16,000 votes over its nearest Congress rival in the by-election to the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha constituency as counting of votes is underway on the Parliamentary seat where voting was held alongside the state elections.
As per the Election Commission website, JD(U)'s Sunil Kumar has polled 2,22,200 votes of the total 5,67,436 counted till around 3 pm. His nearest rival Pravesh Kumar Mishra of the Congress has polled 2,05,718 votes till now.
The by-poll to the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha constituency has been necessitated by the death of JD(U) sitting MP Baidyanath Mahto, Sunil Kumar's father. (PTI)
Update 3.20 pm
After the ruling NDA took an initial lead from the grand alliance in poll trends for Bihar, Congress leader Udit Raj has raised questions on the reliability of EVMs. “If the direction of satellites to Mars and Moon can be controlled from the earth, then why can’t EVM be hacked,” Udit Raj said in a tweet in Hindi.
He also asked if Donald Trump could have lost in the US elections had EVMs been used. “If elections were held in America with EVMs, could Trump have lost,” he asked.
Raj, who is the Congress party’s national spokesperson, in another tweet, said that the BJP has been able to sideline Nitish Kumar with its performance in Bihar.
Initial trends in Bihar showed the NDA taking the lead in the election to the 243-member assembly.Several exit polls had predicted victory of the Mahagathbandhan of the RJD, Congress and the Left parties. (PTI)
Update 3.13 pm
BJP's Sanjay Saraogi (50) wins Darbhanga seat, thus retaining the seat which he won back in 2015.
He defeated RJD’s Amar Nath Gami by over 10,000 votes, Returning Officer Thiyagrajan SM said on Tuesday. (PTI)
Update 3.10 pm
The Left parties are leading in 18 of the 29 seats they contested in the Bihar Assembly election after the first few rounds of counting of votes, according to the Election Commission website.
In an alliance with the RJD, the three Left parties were given 29 seats by Tejashwi Yadav, despite reluctance from the members of the parties. While the CPI(M) was given four seats, the CPI got six and the CPI-ML (Liberation) 19. These included some seats the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had won in the 2015 Assembly polls.
In 2010, only the CPI managed to win a seat in Bihar while in 2015, the CPI-ML (Liberation) grabbed three seats as the other two Left parties drew a blank.
As the leads trickled in on the EC website, the CPI(M) and the CPI were leading in three seats each while the CPI-ML (Liberation) was leading in 12 at 2:55 pm.
“The leads so far are on the expected lines and we hope to catch up in three more seats. This was a different kind of election. This was more a people’s movement. We banked on young candidates, student leaders, candidates who were part of farmer struggles, working class people. That seems to have worked,” Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, said.
The Left parties, which are fighting the polls in an alliance with the RJD and the Congress, have fielded candidates from Agiaon, Arrah, Arwal, Balrampur, Bibhutipur, Darauli, Daraundha, Dumraon, Ghosi, Karakat, Manjhi, Matihani, Paliganj, Tarari, Ziradei, Bachhwara, Bakhri, among other places.
According to Left leaders, while the alliance with the two parties has helped in vote conversion, what has also led to the good performance is the cadre base of the three parties that helped spread the reach of the Mahagathbandhan. (PTI)
Update 2.55 pm:
Sanjay Saraogi of BJP wins Darbhanga seat by over 10,000 votes: EC
Update 2:20 pm
With the Bihar poll trends showing the ruling NDA marching ahead of the RJD-led Grand Alliance, the mood was buoyant among BJP and JD(U) workers, but RJD and Congress activists looked disappointed, even though hoping for things to change in their favour.
At the BJP office at Beer Chand Patel Path, where there was not much activity for the past three days after exit polls projected a majority for the Grand Alliance, several leaders and party workers have started coming in with beaming faces.State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal is in the office monitoring the results closely.
Bihar BJP spokesman Sanjay Singh Tiger said the BJP-JD(U) coalition has worked under the “double engine” governments -- NDA dispensations at the Centre as well in the state — and the people of Bihar have blessed it. “The people know Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish kumar can speed up development of the state and hence they have reposed their faith in the NDA,” Tiger told reporters.
While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is watching counting of votes at his official residence, some leaders and party workers have started thronging the party office, a stone’s throw away from the office of the BJP and the RJD in the heart of the city. Bihar JD(U) president Vasistha Narayan Singh said they were confident since the beginning that the people of the state would like the ruling coalition to continue and expedite the development process.
Asked about the BJP performing better than the JD(U) and if Chief Minister Kumar will continue in the post, Singh said, “When top BJP leaders themselves have said that Kumar will be the CM irrespective of the individual scores of the alliance partners, is there any need to clarify this further?”
In the RJD camp, which was on cloud nine till Monday with almost all exit polls indicating the party-helmed coalition coming to power in the state and its leader Tejashwi Yadav becoming chief minister, the initial euphoria appears to be dipping.
A crowd of Tejashwi supporters that had gathered outside the 10 Circular Road residence of former chief minister Rabri Devi expecting a victory is thinning now.
Bihar RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari said, “It’s like a T-20 match. The result will be decided only when the last ball of the match is bowled.”
In the Congress camp, initial excitement appears to have evaporated with the trends showing Grand Alliance trailing the NDA. Scores of Congress leaders from across the country, including its general secretary Randeep Surjewala, who have arrived in Bihar in the hope of party forming a government with Mahagathbandhan partners are glued to TV channels hoping the trends will change in accordance to the exit polls. (PTI)
Update 1:50 pm
The ruling NDA in Bihar has crossed the half-way mark. The BJP is leading in 74 seats, while the JD(U) is leading in 50 seats. To win, a party needs 122 seats, and the ruling combine is ahead in 124 seats, according to trends available so far.
Election trends from Bihar at 1:50 AM. - ECI website
Meanwhile, the final results for the 243 seats to the Bihar Assembly is likely only late tonight, Election Commission officials have said.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the officials added that over 1 crore votes had been counted till about 1.30 pm, “which means there is significant ground to cover”. Bihar reported a voter turn out of 57.9 per cent. The state has an electorate of 7.3 crore, officials said.
Officials said it will wrong to say that the counting process is progressing slowly. “The lowest number of rounds of votes to the counted in the State is 19, while the highest number of round of votes to be counted in 51 in the different Assembly Constituencies in Bihar. The approximate average is about 35 rounds of votes to be counted before the final result can be declared,” the EC official said.
Officials said that since the elections were being held in the back drop of the Covid pandemic, several new measures had been taken including having 1.06 lakh polling stations as against 65,000 polling stations in the previous Assembly elections in 2015. “Besides this time to maintain social distancing norms each polling booth has only 1,000 voters as against 1,500 voters earlier. We have also halved the number of table on which votes are to be counted in each of the counting room to seven,” officials said.
In response to a question on postal ballots, officials said it will be difficult to give an exact number of how many postal ballots had been received as by law all postal ballots received till 8 AM on Tuesday have to be counted. Over 50,000 service voters had been received from the around 1.6 lakhs that were dispatched, officials said.
Polls in Bihar were held in three phases from October 28 to November 7.
Update 1:25 pm
The ruling NDA in Bihar was ahead of its rivals in more than half of the state’s 243 assembly seats. The BJP is appearing set to outperform its senior alliance partner JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, according to trends available so far.
Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD, projected in exit polls as the clear winner along with other Grand Alliance partners, is leading in 65 out of the 144 seats it contested, while the Congress, which had fielded 70 candidates, was ahead in only 21 places. Among other partners of the RJD-led Grand Alliance the CPI-ML is leading in 14, CPI (3) and CPI-M (2).
As trends from all 243 seats became available, the NDA constituents were ahead in 125, with BJP candidates leading the table in 72 seats and the JD(U) in only 47. The BJP had contested 110 seats as against the JD(U)’s 115. A party or coalition of parties needs 122 seats for a simple majority.
Former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party, a fledgling outfit that joined the NDA just ahead of the assembly polls, may spring a surprise, having established a lead in six out of 11 seats it contested. Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, which was expected to cause a major upset by pulling out of the NDA and fielding a large number of BJP and JD(U) rebels, was leading in only two seats.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM was ahead in three seats, BSP in one and Independents (7).
Counting of votes has been tardy because of various protocols in place in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Election Commission sources said it may take longer than usual before results start pouring in. H R Srinivasa, the state’s chief electoral officer, said that only 80 lakh of the close to four crore votes polled had been counted till noon. (PTI)
Update 1:10 pm
The fortunes of political parties continue to swing from round to round in the Bihar Assembly elections.
The EC website now shows that the BJP is leading in 72 Assembly constituencies, down one from a little while earlier. Similarly, the fortunes of the Rashtriya Janata Dal have moved northward as it is now leading in 66 seats from 61 seats earlier.
The Congress has also gained a lead marginally as now it is ahead in 21 seats from 20 earlier. The CPI (Marxist Leninist) (Liberation) continues to hold its position still leading in 14 ACs as was the case some time back.
Trends are now available for all 243 constituencies in Bihar. Nitish Kumar, who has been Chief Minister for three consecutive terms is in the battle ground for a fourth term.
Update 12:50 pm
So far, the BJP is firmly in the lead with 72 seats. The JD(U) is leading in 48 seats. The RJD is ahead in 65 seats, while Congress is lead in 21 seats.
Election trends from Bihar at 12:50 PM. - ECI
Update: 12.20 pm
With trends now available for all 243 constituencies in Bihar, the BJP (with 73 seats) continues to maintain its lead over others. The RJD is leading in 61 seats, for which polling trends are available on the Election Commission website.
The JD(U) is leading in 47 AC, Congress is currently leading in 20 AC and the CPI (Marxist Leninist) (Liberation) is leading in 14 AC, the EC website shows. Independents are leading in seven seats.
When it comes to vote share among the votes counted so far the RJD has got 22.8 per cent of the votes counted followed by the BJP (20 per cent) while the JD (U) has 15.5 per cent of the votes. Others have 18.4 per cent of the votes and the Congress 9.3 per cent of the votes counted till now, the EC website shows. 1.81 per cent of the votes counted till now pressed None Of The Others or NOTA button on the ballot box.
Update: 12.10 pm
The BJP is maintaining a healthy lead over others, as it is leading in 73 seats. The RJD is leading in 61 seats, for which polling trends are available on the Election Commission website.
The JD(U) is leading in 48 seats, Congress is currently leading in 21 seats and the CPI (Marxist Leninist) (Liberation) is leading in 14 seats, the EC website shows. Independents are leading in six seats.
When it comes to vote share, the RJD (23.3 per cent) has a three point lead over the BJP (20 per cent). The JD (U) has 15.5 per cent of the votes. Others have 18.5 per cent of the votes, the EC website shows. 1.82 per cent of the votes counted till now pressed None of the Others button on the ballot box
Update: 12 pm
State Minister and BJP leader Vinod Narayan Jha leads over Congress rival Bhawana Jha by 6,000 votes in Benipatti seat.State Minister Brij Kishor Bind (BJP) has a slim lead of 321 votes over BSP's Md Hamza Khan in the Chainpur constituency. The party's Parshuram Chaubey leads over Congress' Sanjay Tiwari by 2,600 votes in Buxar seat.
In the Hasanpur seat, RJD's Tej Pratap Yadav secures a lead of nearly 150 votes over JD(U)’s Raj Kumar Ray. However, another RJD candidate Kiran Devi leads over LJP’s Shweta Singh by over 4,200 votes in Sandesh seat.
Update: 11.50 am
The Congress nominee for Bihariganj seat, Subhashini is currently trailing. Subhashini is the daughter of veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav. Congress' Luv Sinha, the son of actor-turned politician Shatrughan Sinha, is trailing in Bankipur seat in the state capital.
If the current trend continues and translates into seats, if Chirag Paswan, who was ploughing a lonely furrow in Bihar while still remaining part of the NDA at the Centre, decides to back the ruling alliance, then it should have no problem forming a new government. A party or a coalition of parties needs 122 seats for a simple majority in the 243-member state assembly.
Update: 11.45 am
According to the EC website, the ruling JD(U)-BJP combine is leading 118 seats overall, with the BJP leading in 70 seats and the JD(U) leading in 48 seats. RJD is leading in 62 seats and the Congress in 20 seats. CPI-ML (12), CPI-M (3) and CPI (1) are also part of the RJD-Congress alliance.
Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party nominees were ahead of their rivals in five seats.
When it comes to the vote share, RJD has got 23 per cent of the votes counted so far, followed by the BJP (20.5 per cent) while the JD (U) has 15.2 per cent of the votes. Others have 18.5 per cent of the votes, the EC website shows.
The Bihar Assembly has a strength of 243 seats.
Election trends from Bihar at 11:35 AM. - ECI website
Update: 11.15 am
Early trends indicate that RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav is trailing JD(U)'s Raj Kumar Ray by 1,365 votes in Hasanpur seat. Ace shooter and BJP nominee Shreyasi Singh was leading over her rivals in Jamui. However, State minister and BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav is trailing Congress' Pravin Singh by 1,778 votes in Patna Sahib seat. Congress leader Luv Sinha trails BJP’s Nitin Nabin by 1,200 votes in Bankipur seat.
Meanwhile, the JD(U)’s Sunil Kumar is leading Congress' Pravesh Kumar Mishra by nearly 2,500 votes in Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha bypoll. (PTI)
Update: 11.07 am
It is now a neck and neck battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party -- which is leading in 58 seats, and Rashtriya Janata Dal -- leading in 57 seats, according to the data on Election Commission website.
With leads for 211 of 243 seats available now, the website shows that Janata Dal (United) is leading in 46 seats, Congress in 17, Lok Janashakti party and Vikasheel Insaan Party in five seats each, while the CPI (Marxist Leninist) (Liberation) is leading in 11 seats. Four independents are also leading in Bihar at the moment.
A party or an alliance will need to get 122 seats to in a position to form the government in Bihar. The BJP is fighting the elections in Bihar along with the JD (U) while the RJD has allied with the Congress and three Left parties.
A clearer picture on who will be in a position to form the government in Bihar is likely to emerge later in the afternoon, after more round of votes have been counted.
Nitish Kumar, the incumbent Chief Minister has led the state for three consecutive five year terms.
Update: 10.54 am
HAM president and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi trailing behind Uday Narain Choudhary of RJD by 1,340 votes in Imamganj seat.
RJD leader and Grand Alliance chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav leads in Raghopur seat by 455 votes.
Sharad Yadav’s daughter and Congress candidate Subhashini trails in Bihariganj seats by 1,271 votes. JD(U) leader Niranjan Kumar Mehta is leading. (PTI)
Update: 10.40 am
The ruling NDA and the opposition Grand Alliance are locked in a neck-and-neck fight as early trends for 125 seats of the 243-member Bihar Assembly have become available.
The NDA is leading in 63 seats -- BJP (33), JDU (25), and the VIP in five seats -- while the Grand Alliance is ahead in 56 seats, as per the trends available on the Election Commission website.
The RJD is ahead in 36 seats, the Congress in 13, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) in six and the CPI(M) in one seat.
Update: 10.35 am
Bihar minister and BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav trails behind Pravin Singh of Congress by 1,778 votes in Patna Sahib seat. RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav trails behind JD(U)’s Raj Kumar Ray by 1,365 votes in Hasanpur seat. Sharad Yadav’s daughter and Congress candidate Subhashini trails in Bihariganj seats by 1,271 votes. JD(U) leader Niranjan Kumar Mehta is leading. (PTI)
Update: 10.21 am
The Rashtriya Janata Dal is leading in 40 seats, while the BJP is leading in 35 from among the 133 seats in the Bihar Assembly, results for which are now available on the Election Commission website.
The Congress is leading in 14, BSP in two, the CPI (Marxist Leninist) (Liberation) in six, and CPI (M) in one, the website shows.
Update: 10.05 am
The ruling NDA forged ahead of challenger Grand Alliance in Bihar on Tuesday, leading in 32 of the 54 seats from where trends were available till 10 am.
The Election Commission website said the NDA candidates were leading in 32 seats while the opposition alliance was ahead in 21. The BSP candidate was ahead in one seat.
The BJP was leading the table with 20 seats, its allies JD(U) in nine and VIP (three).
RJD nominees were ahead of their rivals in nine constituencies and alliance partners Congress (7), CPI-ML (4) and CPI-M (1).
BJP’s Alok Ranjan leads over RJD’s Lovely Anand by 3,014 votes in Saharsa seat in early trends.
Update: 9.55 am
BJP’s Jamui candidate Shreyasi Singh leads over RJD’s Vijay Prakash by 1,323 votes in early trends. JD(U)’s Chandrika Roy leads over RJD’s Chhote Lal Ray by 49 votes in Parsa seat in early trends. (PTI)
Update: 9.45 am
Initial trends of Bihar Assembly results, based on the counting of postal ballots, favoured the Maha Gadbandhan (grand alliance) led by the RJD.
As the trends of about 199 seats of the total 243 seats available, the grand alliance is leading in 106 seats and the ruling NDA was leading in 79 seats. Other parties, such as the LJP, were leading in 14 seats.
The exit polls had predicted a clear lead for the grand alliance. The alliance leadership had claimed that it will sweep the polls. The JD(U)-BJP alliance was also confident that it will retain power.
The grand alliance has the Congress and three Left parties as constituents other than the RJD. The LJP, which left the NDA ahead of the polls, hopes to be the kingmaker in the State.
Update: 9.30 am
The early trends on the Election Commission shows that the BJP in Bihar is leading in 10 seats with the JD (U) leading in six seats and RJD in five, with the BSP Cong and VSIP leading in one seat each. Currently leads are available for 28 of the 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal is leading in five seats and its ally Congress in three and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in one seat.
The Bahujan Samaj Party is leading in one seat.
Polling for the 243 seats in Bihar Assembly was held in three phases beginning October 28, with the last phase of polls being held on November 7.
Counting begins
Counting of votes got under way Tuesday morning for the three-phase Bihar assembly elections that may herald a new era in state politics, with exit polls predicting a victory for the RJD-led Grand Alliance.
The exercise will decide the electoral fate of over 3,700 candidates who are in the race to win the 243 seats of the state assembly.
Counting started at 8 am at 55 centres spread across 38 districts amid tight security and precautions to avoid the spread of COVID-19 pandemic during the process. Over 57 per cent of about 7.30 crore electors have exercised their franchise in what is the first major election in the country since the onset of the pandemic.
Votes are also being simultaneously counted for the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha by-poll, which was necessitated by the death of JD(U) MP Baidyanath Mahto.
Officials said the trends and results might be delayed a bit this time as the number of polling stations were raised from 72,723 earlier to 1,06,515, an increase of 46.5 per cent, to ensure adherence to social distancing measures in view of the pandemic.
A total of 3,733 candidates are in the fray, including 371 women and a transgender.
Most exit polls have predicted a rout for the ruling JD(U)-BJP combine and a resounding victory for the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) led by RJD’s 31-year-old chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav.
According to Chief Electoral Officer H R Srinavasa, central armed police forces have been deployed at the strong rooms, where the EVMs have been stored since the completion of voting, and the halls where these are being unsealed now.
Of the state’s 243 assembly constituencies, among the most keenly watched will obviously be Raghopur in Vaishali district from where Tejashwi Yadav is seeking re-election.
Raghopur has been in the past represented by his parents Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, both former chief ministers.
Nitish Kumar is a member of the state’s legislative council and has not contested the assembly election.
Tejashwi’s elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav is contesting from Hasanpur in Samastipur district.
Tuesday’s counting will also decide the political fate of nearly a dozen of ministers.
Prominent among them are Nand Kishore Yadav (Patna Sahib), Pramod Kumar (Motihari), Rana Randhir (Madhuban), Suresh Sharma (Muzaffarpur), Shrawan Kumar (Nalanda), Jai Kumar Singh (Dinara) and Krishnanandan Prasad Verma (Jehanabad).
Prohibitory orders are in place outside the counting centres to prevent people from gathering in large numbers, officials said.