Lok Sabha polls: RJD draws a blank as Nitish, Modi trump caste politics in Bihar

Patna, May 24: In a first, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) could not manage to win even a single seat in the wake of modi wave that swept across the Hindi heartland.

The BJP-led NDA won a thumping victory in Bihar getting 39 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats. While the RJD, the main opposition party in Bihar, drew a blank, the Congress managed to get a lone seat. Its candidate from Kishanganj constituency Dr. Mohammad Jawed won with a margin of 34,466 votes.

The results have started the crumbling of the political citadel of RJD's caste based politics in Bihar. In fact, the huge victory margins of BJP's Yadav leaders - Nityanand Rai from Ujiyarpur (over 2.75 lakh) and Ashok Yadav from Madhubani (over 4.5 lakh) - indicated that the party was able to draw the Yadav votes away.

The results will also gauge the JD(U)-BJP alliance's success in the state after the former broke up with the RJD-Congress alliance in 2017 after successfully defeating the BJP in 2015 Assembly elections.

Bihar is set to face a tough battle with the BJP-led NDA pitted against the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan. This is the second time the Opposition alliance has come together to defeat the BJP.

In 2014, the BJP held 22 of the 40 seats in the State. Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) are in eight seats. The JD(U) was originally a part of the Mahagathbandhan, but Mr. Kumar resigned as Chief Minister in 2017 and allied with the BJP.