Bihar Election 2020: BJP improves tally, but new alliance arithmetic pulls down NDA vote share since 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Having emerged as a senior partner of the NDA in Bihar for the first time in nearly two decades, the BJP finally seems to have come out of the shadow of its allies in the state but new alliance arithmetic has dragged down their overall vote share since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Riding on the 'Modi wave' in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the National Democratic Alliance, which included LJP, had garnered more than 53 percent votes and won 39 out of 40 seats.

In the Bihar assembly elections, LJP decided to contest on its own and has managed to win less than six percent votes, while HAM and VIP which were in the opposition camp have become part of the NDA. As per the latest EC data, the NDA's combined vote share, including that of BJP, JD(U), HAM and VIP, stands at less than 40 percent.

In comparison, the RJD-led grand opposition alliance has managed around 37 percent votes. Party-wise, JD(U) had got 21.81 percent votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but has got only about 15 percent in the assembly elections. The BJP had got 23.58 percent of votes in the general elections and has now got close to 20 percent.

A similar trend was seen in the saffron party's vote share is several state assembly elections that have taken place since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Its vote share was more than 55 percent in Jharkhand and 58 percent in Haryana in the Lok Sabha elections.

However, it slumped to 33 percent and 36 percent respectively in the assembly polls in these two states, held barely a few months after the general elections.