Battle for Bihar: JD(U)-BJP heading for a clear victory-Nov 24, 2010,

Battle for Bihar: JD(U)-BJP heading for a clear victory

AGENCIES, Nov 24, 2010, 09.48am IST

PATNA: PATNA: Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-BJP alliance on Wednesday appears to be heading for an emphatic victory to retain power in the assembly elections in Bihar with the combine ahead in over 100 seats for which initial trends were available.

Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) is ahead in 65 seats while its partner BJP is leading in 43 seats in the elections to the 243-member House.

The RJD-LJP alliance is way behind at about 25 seats while the Congress was leading in four constituencies. Others are ahead in ten seats

The BJP said in New Delhi that the ruling alliance was poised for an emphatic win.

"The JD-U and BJP are headed for a historic victory," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi. "People are voting for an alliance that brought development as well as law and order to Bihar."

He said the people had clearly voted against the RJD's "15 years of jungle raj" - referring to the long rule of Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi.

Candidates of the Congress, a party which in recent decades has become an also-ran in Bihar, were ahead in three seats, the officials said.

Former chief minister Rabri Devi was trailing in one of the two constituencies from where she contested.

More than half of over 55 million electorate in Bihar voted from Oct 21 and Nov 20 to elect a new 243-member assembly.

Counting of votes for all 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar began on Wednesday morning amidst tight security.

Counting for the Banka parliamentary constituency, where a byelection was held, began simultaneously at 8am, additional chief electoral officer Kumar Anshumali said here.

Counting has been taken up in 42 centres, mostly in the district headquarters towns, where central para-military forces have been deployed, he said.

For each of the 243 constituencies, there are 14 tables each manned by two counting staff and a special counting micro observer.

In the outgoing House, the ruling parties JD(U) and BJP have 88 and 55 seats respectively. RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP have 54 and 10 respectively. Congress has nine seats.

122 is the magic mark required for any coalition or party to form a government.

The electoral fate of former chief minister and RJD candidate Rabri Devi, who contested from Raghopur and Sonepur, besides 25 ministers belonging to the BJP and JD(U) will be decided. The outgoing cabinet has a total of 34 ministers. One of them has died. The others are MLCs and did not contest.

Outgoing chief minister Nitish Kumar is a MLC and has not contested the elections. He has another year to go as MLC.

His deputy Sushil Modi has also not contested the elections. He is a MLC.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan have also not contested. They are Lok Sabha members from the Saran and Hajipur seats respectively.

The Congress is the only party which fielded candidates in all 243 constituencies followed by the BSP which contested 239 seats. The JD(U) contested 141 seats and its ally BJP 102.

RJD contested 168 seats and ally LJP in 75. The six phase polls ended on Saturday with an average voter turnout of 52 per cent.