Bihar elections: Was it a close fight? YES

Today we all remain glued to our TV sets as we all eagerly waited to know the election results of Bihar. As the election results of Bihar started trending on different news channels, slowly and gradually they kept proving the failure of various pre- poll and exit poll surveys. Survey companies seemed to be divided on the election results. Some gave majority to BJP led NDA whereas others predicted the grand alliance to be a grand winner. But one thing was common in all the surveys that they all predicted close fight, neck to neck fight between both the alliances. As the trend came all of them failed but one thing which has been successful in saving their credibility was their prediction of close fight between NDA and Mahagathbandhan. 

A very serious and immediate question would be how. Though the close fight between the NDA and the grand alliance could not be reflected in the number of seats, as there is a huge difference in the number of seats which both of them have won but it does reflect in the margin of votes with which a candidate has either lost or won. There are many seats which Grand alliance won by a difference of just few votes to a few hundreds of votes. Most of the seats of the state have been decided in favour of Grand alliance by a margin of just three - four hundred votes to three - four thousand votes. These predictions of various Survey companies have however been able to keep their credibility intact otherwise they have failed on all accounts. 

The election of Bihar was not just of a state but it will have an impending impact on the political scenario of the country as well as the forthcoming elections of other states like Assam, west Bengal, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Puducherry etc.

Results are now out but the impact has yet to be visualized. Forgetting about the pros and cons of the election results, one thing this election has undoubtedly done, and that is the revival of the political career of RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav as well as giving new lease of life to the political life of Nitish Kumar and surprisingly it has germinated the seeds of Congress Bihar once again by making them won 24 seats. 

Now the million dollar question is, will the Grand Alliance successfully Run for coming five years? A very difficult question to answer but its answer lies in the womb of future.

By Dr Sushma Dixit,
Editor, Clean Media Today