Elections Results 2020 Live: Grand Alliance Keeps Up Fight as NDA Maintains Lead

Early trends show a neck-to-neck fight between Mahagathbandhan and NDA.

In 2015, RJD and JD(U) fought the assebmly elections together under the Mahagathbandhan. The coalition won and they formed a government. But in 2017, Nitish Kumar shocked everyone when he ended the alliance and eventually formed the government again with BJP as part of the NDA. Many saw this as betrayal of the 2015 mandate.

As the counting progresses across Bihar, here is a graphic representation of the vote shares of the major contenders in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the past one and half decade.

The edge of RJD+ as visible from the pre-poll campaigns also arose from the fact that the number of employed in the state, which was 2.86 crore in 2017, has been on a downward spiral dropping dramatically to just 160 lakh (1.6 crore) – a 44% decline during the lockdown.

Read: Bihar Elections: Why Jobs Have Become the Key Issue

Along with the Bihar assembly, bypolls were held in 11 states including Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.The bypolls in Madhya Pradesh are said to be a test of the Jyotiraditya Scindia factor in the state. The state has voted for candidates contesting in 28 seats, and in seven seats in Uttar Pradesh.

According to Election Commission of India updates, out of 161 seats, the Grand Alliance is leading in 75 seats, CPI(M)-2, Congress 13, RJD-51, CPI(ML)-8.

In an interview with NDTV, Nitish Kumar’s party spokesperson, KC Tyagi seemed to have already conceded defeat, blaming the COVID 19 situation and the ensuing economic downturn as responsible for his party’s poor performance.

The three left parties - CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M) - who had decided to be a part of Mahagathbandhan, are performing well. While CPI(ML) (Liberation) is leading in 10 seats, CPI(M) and CPI are leading in 3 and 1, respectively.

The Congress leads in the sole bypoll constituencies in Chhattisgarh and Haryana while the BJP leads in the single one polled in Telangana and in both in Karnataka.

In Gujarat – where eight seats were polled – the BJP leads in seven seats while the Congress is ahead in one. In two seats in Jharkhand, both parties are ahead in one each. Out of five seats in Manipur, the saffron party has already won one and is ahead in the other.

Two independent candidates have the lead in Manipur while Biju Janata Dal candidates have leads in both seats in Odisha.

RJD leader and Grand Alliance chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav leads in Raghopur by 455 votes

According to Times of India result updates, the RJD is ahead on 75 seats while the BJP

is leading on 66, making it the single largest party till now. The Tejashwi led party had won 80 seats in 2015 and the BJP won 53. The NDA is leading in 115 seats, while the RJD-led mahagathbandhan is a head in 110 seats, according to CNN-News18. LJP is now leading in 3 seats, it showed. NDTV is showing a clear majority to the NDA with a lead in 126 seats. 

Meanwhile, EC trends show that out of 219 seats so far known, the NDA camp is leading in 115 seats whereas the Grand Alliance is leading in 95 seats.

HAM President and former Bihar CM, Jitan Ram Manjhi, trails Uday Narain Choudhary 

of the RJD by 1,340 votes in Imamganj, PTI reports.

According to EC trends, in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is leading in 16 seats, Congress in 8  and BSP in 1.

According to the EC website, out of 228 seats, NDA is leading in 120  while Grand Alliance is ahead on 97.

Before the last phase of polling, incumbent CM Nitish Kumar played the emotional card saying that this will be his last election. Many saw this as a last effort to redeem his image amidst reports of huge unpopularity.

PTI reports Plurals Party chief Pushpam Priya Choudhary bags only 121 of 3,860 votes counted so far.

Several regions of the state show the lack of development, one of the reasons behind the unpopularity of the Nitish Kumar government, which has held sway for the last one and half decade. One such area is Tarabari village in Baisi Assembly constituency, which has no roads and bridges connecting it to the world. When the two rivers, Kankai and Mahananda swell every year between March and July, the entire area gets submerged. The flood waters erode the soil, and at its worst, forces people to shift their houses. Even in this year’s floods, around 200 houses were washed away. Floods have made villagers relocate five times in the past 46 years.

Read: Bihar Elections: Baisi’s Tarabari Village Exposes Nitish’s Claim of Development

As per EC trends, the Grand Alliance is trailing behind the NDA camp with 99 out of 241 seats so far, while JD(U) is leading in 53 seats, BJP in 70 and VIP in 6 seats. 

ECI says BJP leads in all eight constituencies -- Abdasa, Limbdi, Morbi, Dhari, Gadhada, Karjan, Dang and Kaprada -- in Gujarat.

The Left parties’ candidates, which have joined the Grand Alliance, are leading in 20 out of the 29 seats they were contesting from. CPI(ML) Liberation has candidates leading in 14 constituencies, while CPI is leading in 3 seats and CPI(M) in 2 seats.