Bihar Assembly Elections 2015 Results Analysis: Biharis won & Baharis lost

Bihar assembly elections 2015 were seen as a "mother of all elections", in which for the first time, foes-turned-friends had joined hands together to wipe off the BJP.

Spread across five phases, Bihar polls were decisively fought on the development plank on the basis of the work done in terms of good governance, by the JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Nitish Kumar savours a hat-trick victory

Nitish's capabilities got the full and unconditional support from his once arch-rival RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and the cornered Congress.

It's a good-old adage that, "United we stand, Divided we fall". This policy worked best in the favour of the "Grand Alliance" or Mahagathbandhan of the JD(U), RJD and Congress to wipe out their common enemy-- the BJP.

Their alliance was earlier touted as a flop show not only by the opponents BJP, LJP, HAM , and RLSP, but also by some sections of media.

Sunday, Nov 8-- The day when the fate of Biharis was decided by their mandate, was an unexpected victory, and that too not marginal, but a huge chunk of votes went into the kitty of Grand alliance parties.

NDA's negatives bigger than positives

Although the NDA alliance of BJP, LJP and HAM looked confident to bring down the grand alliance, but several factors contributed to their failure.

Their negatives became more prominent, that overlooked their positives. Firstly, the NDA alliance had no popular face in the Bihar polls, except some huge names like Sushil Kumar Modi, Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi. All these faces become dull, when it compared with the massive popularity of the seasoned politician Nitish Kumar, as the united choice of the CM candidate of Bihar.

Secondly, the PM Narendra Modi-led alliance was marred by a flurry of controversial incidents like beef politics, politics of religious intolerance, DNA politics, awards returning and politically incorrect statements in their election campaign rallies.

PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah along-with other tall leaders of the BJP left no stones unturned during the election campaigns, in an attempt to make a strong impact on the voters of Bihar.

But their silence on controversial incidents and blabbering rhetorics, did not find much takers. Instead, it helped their opponents and gave them enough fodder for mud slinging and earned them more points.

Congress rises from the ashes

Congress provided solace to those who were expecting comfort and soothing words from the BJP, thus giving them instant number of votes.

It should be noted that the Congress, that was almost decimated in most of the states, where assembly elections were previously held, claimed a surprising winning streak of 27 seats. It contest on 41 seats.

In 2010 and 2005 Bihar assembly elections, it bagged 4 and 9 seats respectively.

Lalu emerges as the biggest 'surprising' winner

Lalu, whose political career had almost went down in reverse gear, made a massive and strong comeback in the Bihar political stronghold. RJD, whose "laltern" was in dark for quite some time, again shone brightly in the 2015 polls.

Lalu's RJD won 80 seats out of 100 seats, it contested, Both of his sons also passed the litmus test and won in their constituencies. 26-year-old Tejaswi Yadav and his older brother 27-year-old Tej Pratap, contested and won from Raghopur and Mahua assembly constituencies.

Manjhi, Paswan decimated

Jitan Ram Manjhi, the former chief minister and the former loyalist of Nitish Kumar, who floated his new political outfit Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM), to take revenge, was the biggest loser. Although, the only face-saver was that he managed to win one seat- Imamganj and lost badly from Makhdumpur, apart from biting the dust in 19 other seats.

Meanwhile, the LJP, led by Ram Vilas Paswan, and RLSP of Upendra Kushwaha got two seats each. LJP contested on 40 seats, while RLSP tested its fate on 23 seats.

Irresponsible statements by the BJP firebrand leaders such as Yogi Aditya Nath, Giriraj Singh and Sakshi Maharaj also contributed in BJP's defeat.

Added to it, the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement on quota did the needful for the BJP's downfall.

NOTA Power

None Of The Above (NOTA) option on the EVMs fared better than Manjhi's HAM, Samajwadi Party, AIMIM nad Left parties.

In all, 9,47,276 voters opted for the NOTA option and percentage-wise, around 2.5 per cent voters hit the NOTA button in the state.