RJD members were seen in the interiors of Bihar reveling the party's victory whilst with guns.

After BJP's stinging defeat in Bihar Assembly polls, party chief Amit Shah's controversial "firecrackers in Pakistan" comment was recalled today and became a subject of derision and humour in political circles and social media.


Shah had brought up the neighbouring country during electioneering when he said "if by mistake BJP loses the polls crackers will go off in Pakistan". "Pakistan gonna be mad polluted tonight," said a tweet by Rohan. In Pakistan, one twitter user said she had "to go and set off firecrackers for BJP's defeat".


In a tweet, Senator Sherry Rehman said," Crackers? Pakistan would care if any of this was about cricket. Otherwise a #Bihar loss or win for BJP is more imp to India than anyone else."


In the past, several BJP leaders have in controversial comments said that those opposed to the government's policies or the ruling party should be sent to Pakistan.


"I dont know about Pakistan but I can hear a lot of crackers in India #BiharResults," wrote @shammybaweja. "Now expecting this year's annual NASA Diwali picture to show more lights in Pakistan than India because BJP did not win," tweeted Subhasish Das.


Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that to say in the Bihar campaign that fireworks will be let off in Pakistan if the grand alliance won reflected an "autocratic and arbitrary" attitude.


Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah also responded in a ligher vein when a passenger on landing in Delhi said, "we can't really see anything outside." "Sorry, it's all the smoke from the crackers in Pakistan," Omar tweeted in an indirect jibe at Shah.


After Shah's "firecrackers in Pakistan" comment, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had during the poll campaign returned the fire, saying Mumbai and Amritsar will witness "maximum fireworks" if the BJP loses Bihar assembly polls, alluding to its strains with allies in Maharashtra and Punjab.

The has-beens in Bihar polls:

The Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, NCP and the AIMIM, which contested the Bihar assembly polls, failed to make an impact with their vote shares restricted to 2 per cent or below. Percentage-wise, around 2.5 per cent voters hit the 'none of the above' button which is placed as the last option on the electronic voting machine.

The results of the Bihar assembly elections brought cheer to the family of RJD chief Lalu Prasad whose sons made a victorious debut, but voters were not as generous towards other prominent political clans, especially those from the NDA. Lalu's sons Tejaswi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap secured big wins in Raghopur and Mahua constituencies.


Tejaswi defeated BJP's Satish Kumar by 22,733 votes in Raghopur, a seat won by both Lalu and his wife Rabri Devi in the past, while Tej Pratap trounced HAM (Secular)'s Ravindra Ray by 28,155 votes in Mahua.


Asked whether the party will seek ministerial berths for the two younger Yadavs, Prasad's wife Rabri Devi, who is also a former chief minister, indicted that no such decision has been taken. "What we have got is enough," she told reporters in Patna. 


But Prasad's daughter Misa Bharati -- who had contested and lost last year's Lok Sabha elections -- said there was nothing wrong with her brothers getting ministerial berths. "Every MLA wants to minister, so if my brothers become ministers what's wrong with it?" she said.


She, however, made it clear that all the decisions will be taken by the senior leaders.

If Lalu puts the agenda of his son's career ahead of the coalition's interest, this coalition will fare very badly. Lalu will ultimately want that his son becomes deputy chief minister, but if he's prepared to wait for some time, nothing bad will happen for the coalition," Professor Prabhat Ghosh, Director, Asian Development Research Institute, a leading think-tank in Patna, tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com. Read

And in the world outside Bihar, former India captain and Mumbai Cricket Association, Vice President Dilip Vengsarkar held a meeting with MCA Curator Sudhir Naik and India Team Director Ravi Shastri today.


This follows Naik's complaint to the Mumbai Cricket Association that Shastri had abused him after South Africa piled up 438 runs in the last one day match at Wankhede Stadium on 25th October 2015 which India lost by a huge margin.


Vengsarkar heard both the sides and advised both Naik and Shastri to bury the hatchet which he said was a misunderstanding between the two former Mumbai players. Naik has now decided to withdraw the letter written to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Sharad Pawar, NCP reacts to the Bihar results: "I have always stated that the Bihar elections will give a new dimension to Indian politics. Change has started, those who want to rule must know, the people of India will reject anyone who try to communalise national politics.

Shatrughan Sinha BJP MP from Patna Sahib, who has been openly belligerent about Narendra Modi echoes what the Shiv Sena said when the BJP defeat became apparent: "Accountability must be fixed by the party and it will be fixed."

M K Venu tweets: Another factoid - NOTA has got more vote share at 2.5 pc than Manjhi's party which fought 21 seats. So much for mahadalit votes!

As an aside, on this day in 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon to become the 35th president of the United States of America.  

Just in: As the Grand Alliance secures majority in the Bihar Assembly with the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan trumping the Narendra Modi-led BJP alliance, the Centre says it will abide by its commitment to Bihar. Home Minister Rajnath Singh says the Centre is committed to provide the Rs 1.25 lakh crore economic package announced by the PM.


At a rally in Arrah in the state, the PM said, "I am here today to honour my promise... how much do you want? Rs. 50,000 crore, 60,000, 70,000, 75,000, 80,000? I am announcing a package of Rs. 1.25 lakh crore," PM Modi said to thunderous applause. He was later criticised by chief minister Nitish Kumar who said, "was he bidding for Bihar?"


Figures so far...

Mahagathbandhan:
179/243 (leads + wins)
Wins: 131

BJP+ 58 (leads + wins)
Wins in 43


Others 6 (leads + wins)
Wins: 4

Former deputy CM of Bihar Sushil Modi, and the man who could have been the next CM had the BJP won the elections, holds a press conference conceding defeat and what a gracious speech it is.


Modi who addressed close to 180 rallies in the state said, "People have given a clear majority to the Mahagathbandhan. It's good that it's not a fractured mandate.


"I congratulate Nitish Kumar for the victory and the Election Commission for conducting  fair elections in Bihar.


"The NDA won less seats than expected, we will introspect over our shortcomings in coming days.


"We will extend our full support to the govt for development in the state and will play the role of constructive opposition."  


He gets our vote for the innate dignity in the speech.

Since a win in the elections since May 2014 has been credited to Modi's charisma, it is only right that the Bihar reversal also be attributed to his fading electoral charm.


How else can you describe it when the prime minister has addressed not one or two but a whopping 33 election rallies in the poll-bound state and pitted himself against regional leaders? 


Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com tasks the PM with this to-do list. Read

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA's loss in Bihar was a 'personal defeat' for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


"The most important point in this election is that this is a personal defeat for Narendra Modi. Never in independent India's history, have we seen a sitting Prime Minister getting so involved and addressing more than 35 public meetings," Owaisi said today.


Owaisi thanked the people of the Seemanchal region of Bihar who voted for his party candidates. "I would like to reassure the people of Seemanchal that we have talked about the development of the region and that will continue," he added.


He added that his party has made an entry in Bihar and will try to strengthen itself in the state. "Hopefully, in the next five years, when elections will be held, we will definitely be in a stronger position not only to gain more confidence of people of Seemanchal, but to also ensure that our candidates win," he said.


The AIMIM contested on six seats mainly in the Muslim dominated Seemanchal region

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today congratulated Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on the victory of the grand alliance in the assembly polls.


"Netaji had called Nitish and Lalu and congratulated them for their victory," a party leader said.


SP state chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior party leader Shivpal also congratulated the grand alliance for its thumping victory in Bihar.


"Congratulations to Nitishji and Laluji on their historical victory," Akhilesh posted on Twitter. SP was initially part of the grand alliance but later pulled out of the grouping and contested the Bihar elections alone. The party did not win even a single seat

Lalu Prasad Yadav takes over. He begins by saying, "I can speak openly, Nitish-ji is a bit shy," which earns the RJD chief a grin from the Bihar CM.

After 10 years in the wilderness, a short jail stint in the fodder scam and a ban from contesting elections for six years, the RJD is set to be the single largest party in the state (80: RJD, 72: JDU).

Excerpts from Round II of Lalu's speech.

"We can't slip after such a mandate. Bihar defeated the BJP's efforts to communalise it. We are not sure the PM's congratulations are sincere, but we can tell you that Modi-ji will have to go back to Gujarat. It's the beginning of the end of the BJP.  Our next stop will be Benaras. We may not have been invited by Ganga-ma like Modi-ji said he was, but we will take a lantern and go there and light up his constituency.


"There will be long term implications of the Bihar results on the country. To keep in them in power, is like breaking the country into pieces. People of Bihar understood that. BJP koi party nahi, woh ek mukhauta hai," Lalu said. "PM Modi is nothing but an RSS pracharak," he said.


On sulking and former Mahagathbandhan member, Mulayam Singh Yadav: Muklayam-ji ki hum sab log izzat karte hain, hum logon ki taraf se unke prati samman mein na koi kami thi, na hai aur na rahegi. We respect Mulayam Singh. Our regard for him has never been lessened, nor will it ever do.


(Incidentally, Lalu's daughter Raj Laxmi is married to Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, grand-nephew of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.)

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who is set to hold on to his portfolio for the third term after the Mahagathbandhan win, addresses the media for the first time since the alliance win was confirmed.

Highlights...

-- I thank all Bihar voters for supporting us.
-- This is a victory of the people of Bihar
--  This is a victory of Bihar's self-respect
-- This is a victory for Bihar's feelings.
--  The people of Bihar have left no stone unturned in supporting the Gand Alliance. It's a huge victory and we accept it with gratitude and humility.
-- Bihar has to move forward and speedily.
-- The Mahagathbandhan has worked in unity and will continue to do so for the development of Bihar. There were no frictions within the alliance.
-- This is a huge victory which suggests people of Bihar have aspirations, we will match up with their expectations.
-- We will work to fulfill the mandate we have got.
-- We want a strong opposition, we will respect them. People want an alert opposition. 
-- We will respect the opposition here in Bihar, and we will want that there is consensus on the issues that need to addressed here.Hope for the Centre's help so that the state and the country on the whole can prosper. 
-- We have no ill-feelings against anyone, no matter what happened during campaign.

India needed a leader of the nation. Instead, it got the leader of a party, writes Tunku Varadarajan.  And this is why he thinks so.

Few leaders are fortunate to win such a ringing endorsement from the electorate in an election when the prime minister and his lieutenant staked their all and almost daily upped the ante. Now that he has won the election so convincingly, the Mahagatbandhan's Mahanayak needs to get to business at hand,' says Archana Masih/Rediff.com. Read


And if you haven't, do read Archana's comprehensive reportage in the run-up to the Bihar polls in the series I am Bihar.

@sirpunch tweets Amit Shah visited Today's Chanakya office.


Today's Chanakya exit poll predicted the widest margin of win for the BJP alliance, forecasting just 83 seats for the Mahagatbandhan and 155 for the BJP plus allies.

A beaming Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav at the RJD office in Patna. They beam at each other, hug and will shortly begin their joint presser.

RJD chief Lalu Yadav begins by thanking the people of Bihar. He says the people have voted for the development politics of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. He says Nitish is the present and continuing CM of Bihar. He says people across castes voted for the Mahagathbandhan. "We will uproot the Modi government," promises Lalu, as a smiling Nitish looks on. "We brothers want to thank all of you. I congratulate Nitish-ji," Lalu says in a speech punctuated by admonishments to the crowd, which continues to cheer the two.


"Keeping Modi government in Delhi will break the country into pieces," says Lalu. "Nitish Kumar will run an efficient government. We will oust the Modi government," promises Lalu.   Thanking women voters, Lalu said the party would give women the Bihar of their dreams.


Nitish Kumar will hold a presser at 4 pm.


More women voted in the five-phase Bihar election than men, the Election Commission has said. The BJP assesses that higher voting, including by women, signifies change. .
 
Women voters outnumbering men has been a stand-out feature of this election, given that women are only 46 per cent of the voting population in Bihar, and have struggled for equal footing in the state's largely feudal set-up. Six per cent more women voted than the men.
 
In his 10 years in power, Nitish Kumar is seen to have built a steady base of women followers. This time, women were given 50 per cent reservation in Panchayats and local bodies.

Congratulating the people of Bihar on the victory of grand alliance, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury today said the Modi wave was on the wane and the real "achhe din" have begun for the people of India. "We congratulate the people of Bihar and also the grand alliance for their landmark victory. Achhe din have finally begun for the people," Yechury said in his reaction to the Bihar poll result.


"The Modi wave had already halted in Delhi, yesterday in Kerala and now in Bihar," Yechury said adding it was dubbed a tsunami, but it only succeeded in bringing destruction to the country. He said that since 2014 the BJP was working against the secular democratic structure of the country. Their campaign had now backfired in Bihar.

The man who led the Grand Alliance to victory -- Bihar CM Nitish Kumar -- waves to his followers. 

Congress leader P Chidambaram on the BJP loss:


"The result of the Bihar Polls will matter most to one person, Mr Narendra Modi. No PM before him has campaigned so extensively and aggressively. Mr Modi also presumably believes that it is his campaign that won the elections for the BJP in 2014 and subsequently in several states. Mr Modi threw everything in his armoury into the Bihar elections. He threw in money, human resources, ads, invectives and innuendos. Mr Modi has two choices. He can return to being a whole-time PM & devote the whole of his time and energy to advance the development agenda. Alternatively, he can be the Prachar Mantri and devote practically the whole of his time to winning elections for the BJP."

When it was certain the BJP was losing the Bihar elections.

Former press council of India chief, Markandey Katju foretold BJP loss. Click on the picture to magnify.

Despite the prime minister's opposition, sidelined BJP leader Sanjay Joshi's chances of making a comeback in the party seem linked to its performance in the assembly polls. Read more

And cartoonist Satish Acharya gets the sentiment bang on, as always. 

With the BJP-led NDA getting trounced in Bihar assembly polls, the stock market is expected to turn volatile, with experts anticipating a knee-jerk downward move tomorrow.


Besides the election results of politically-important state, the last leg of quarterly earnings will have a bearing on stock-specific trading during the Diwali-shortened week, as per the analysts.


"The market was building on this outcome over the week gone by, with Nifty slipping below 8,000. We could see a knee-jerk reaction tomorrow and then a phase of recovery and consolidation over the Diwali-shortened week," Centrum Broking CEO K Sandeep Nayak said.


The victory of the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance, comprising JDU, RJD and Congress, in Bihar is expected to have a bearing on the economic reform agenda of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre as well as it does not have majority in the upper house of the Parliament.


"With Bihar behind us, markets would focus on the domestic front on the progress of GST and other pending Bills in the winter session of Parliament and the ask of the government on this front now stands elevated. On the international front, the market would keenly watch the US Fed's rate hike commentary/action," Nayak added.


Stock markets would remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday for Diwali Laxmi pujan and Diwali Balipratipada, except for a one-hour Muhurat trading on Wednesday evening.

Mohammad Shafi, known to his friends as  Chattan Singh waits outside Lalu Yadav's residence dressed in a lantern -- the RJD symbol. "Everybody is celebrating the results in their own way and this is my way of celebrating the victory of the Mahagatbandhan," Shafi said.

Pic: Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com

As the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance trounced the BJP-led NDA in the Bihar elections, the NCP described it as "end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's era" and the defeat of a "communal mindset".


"This is the beginning of the end of Modi's era and is going to continue in future elections too," NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said. Ridiculing the 'ghar wapsi' campaign launched by the BJP, Malik said, "This is 'ghar wapsi' of BJP and defeat of communal mindset.


"Secularism, love and affection triumphed while politics of hatred is done and bit the dust in this election," he added.


Delving into the reasons for BJP's defeat in Bihar Assembly elections, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said Modi raised the expectations of the people, but failed to live up to it.


"This is the thrashing of Modi and Shah and victory of Nitish and Lalu Yadav, who were successful in convincing the voters...Modiji had raised the expectations of the common man so high, but he failed miserably to live up to it," he said.


"Since Modi has taken over, he has been only in campaign mode, while people voted him to govern the country. He should now do away with the campaigning mode and start fulfilling his tall promises," the senior Congress leader said.

No prizes for guessing which party conjoined twins Saba and Farah Shakeel voted for. The girls met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar at his residence today as he readies for his third term.


The 19-year-old sisters, who are joined at their heads and share an artery that carries blood to their hearts, were excited and anxious to take part in the voting process at a polling booth in the Samanpura locality of Patna, Rediff.com's MI Khan had reported.

Three months ago, in an attempt to make their lives easier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had directed the state government to increase their monthly grant.

When Rahul Gandhi told the PM to step on the gas.

"Campaigning bandh kijiye,bhashan bandh kijiye aur kaam shuru kijiye. Kyunki Hindustan ek saal ruk gaya hai aapke liye, aapki gaadi start nahi ho rahi, gaadi ko start kijiye aur accelerator dabaiye. Agar aapne accelerator nahi dabaya toh Hindustan ki janta ne jo Bihar mein kiya, gaadi ka darwaza kholegi, aapko bahar fenk degi."

As the Nitish Kumar-led coalition marched to victory in the Bihar Assembly polls, the Congress today lost no time in crediting Rahul Gandhi for it, hailing him as the "architect" of the Grand Alliance.


Beaming beatifically at a press conference, Rahul said, the results are a victory of unity over divisiveness, humility over arrogance, love over hate.
"This is a message for the PM, the BJP and the RSS, that they cannot divide and rule. You cannot set Hindu against Muslim. This country is for everybody," Rahul said.


He added that the PM and BJP must shed their arrogance. He said the Bihar results was a victory of truth and that divisive agenda will fail.  Congratulating JD-U chief Nitish Kumar, Rahul said that the Congress wants him as the chief minister as was decided.


The Congress is leading in 19 seats so far and had contested 41 seats out of 243 as part of the Grand Alliance.


Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed and the rest of the party has insisted that the Grand Alliance could not have been possible but for the effective role played by the Congress Vice President.


Leaders recalled that it was Rahul who brought Nitish and Lalu Prasad together and played a key role of catalyst at a time when the RJD supremo was having reservations.


The victory in Bihar is also being talked about as a good timing for Rahul to take over as party chief.


Bihar is the first victory for Congress after a long time -- the last major victory being the Karnataka assembly polls where it defeated the BJP. The 40-minute meeting between Rahul and Nitish Kumar in Delhi months ahead of the polls played a crucial role and is being termed as "path breaking", Congress sources said.


Rahul ended his speech by saying that the nation has waited for more that a year for PM's 'car' to start and that unless steps on the accelerator, the people will open the car door and throw him out as they did in Bihar.  

BJP ally and LJP leader Chirag Paswan today heaped praise on Nitish Kumar and described the victory of grand alliance as people's approval for his developmental work in the state.


Paswan, whose party has suffered a humiliating defeat, said many factors would have led to the NDA's big loss and they needed to be analysed. "Nitishji has certainly done work in his 10-year rule compared to Laluji's reign in the preceding 10 years. If people have given him support, then it means that they have approved of his developmental work.


"More than Laluji, it is Nitish Kumar's role in the win. He ran his campaign with a lot of patience," he told reporters. His father and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan also congratulated Kumar and expressed hope that he would fulfil people's expectations.

The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) expected to taste massive defeat in all the six seats it has contested. AIMIM may lose its deposits in some of the seats in East Bihar, adjacent to West Bengal, as it is nowhere close to the 16 per cent mark. 

Chandrika Rai, RJD, defeats her nearest LJP rival by over 40,000 votes in Parsa.

As Bihar readies for rule under the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan, these are the key issues he must deal with:

-- Unemployment
-- Pathetic condition of government schools and lack of institutions for higher studies.
-- Migration of students to other places for higher education.
--  Corruption
-- Lack of potable water
-- Ensuring his work on building roads and reducing load shedding  in rural areas continue.

And yes, the biggest hurdle -- handling a resurgent RJD (leading in 75) as against a 68-seat lead for JDU.

National Executive of the BJP Seshadri Chari, the first to talk about intolerance being of the major causes of the BJP's defeat in Bihar, said today that those 'making hate remarks in the party should be sacked'.


As the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance trounced the BJP-led NDA in the Bihar polls, leaders and political analysts termed it as victory of "principles over moneybags" and "defeat of intolerance".

Stunned by the defeat, BJP leaders said the party will take corrective measures, while its long-time ally Shiv Sena appeared taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by saying that the Bihar election results -- "denotes decline of leader".

Soon after trends showed the Grand Alliance taking a lead over NDA, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav described it as a "victory of principles over moneybags".

"It was a very difficult fight. On the one hand were moneybags and on the other were principles. It is a victory of principles over moneybags," he added.

About the best comment on cow politics by cartoonist Satish Acharya   

Nitish Kumar @NitishKumar  Called Advani-Ji to wish him a Happy Birthday, and received his blessings & congratulations.


Hmmmm.

Rajnath Singh @BJPRajnathSingh  tweets: Spoke to Shri @NitishKumar over the phone and congratulated him on his party's victory in Bihar assembly elections

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi after they called to congratulate him on putting the JD(U)-led grand alliance on the road to victory in the assembly polls.


"Just received a phone call from the Prime Minister congratulating me..@narendramodi thank you Modiji," he said in a series of tweets.


Putting up a stunning show, the JD(U)-led grand alliance was today well on the road to gaining a thumping majority in the Bihar assembly after inflicting a crushing defeat on the BJP-led NDA. He also thanked Sonia and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.


"Thank you Sonia Ji for your congratulatory phone call," he said. "@MamataOfficial thank you Mamata Ji," he said in another tweet. Both the leaders had called Nitish Kumar to congratulate him on the victory. According to trends available for 220 seats, the grand alliance is ahead in 157 of the 243 seats. 

The results of the Bihar elections would have come as no surprise, given the caste arithemtic but also rising disillusionment with Narendra Modi and the increasing communal temperature. It also signals the end of the Modi wave and could be his Stalingrad, the battle he threw everything into only to suffer an ignominous defeat. Read Markandey Katju's column here

Not 'sab ke saath': Why Narendra Modi is failing to take all Indians along. Read

BJP's Sushil Modi: Accept people's mandate


BJP's Seshadri Chari: Sack those making hate remarks


Lalu Prasad Yadav: Thank poor and oppressed of Bihar. I thank Bihar for historic win.


Rahul Gandhi:  Victory of unity over divisiveness.

A despondent BJP on Sunday cancelled an order placed for laddoos and firecrackers after trends showed the Grand Alliance was set to form the government in Bihar while their party was a distant second.


A BJP official said the orders for laddoos and firecrackers were placed early in the morning after initial trends showed they were surging ahead.


However, the order was cancelled after the later trends showed the party was slipping. Most of the flags and firecracker remained unsold at the stall outside the BJP office in Patna.


Raushan Shah, a shopkeeper, said: "I had brought these firecrackers and BJP flags worth Rs.10,000, but now after they are defeated nobody is buying them. I wish I had brought JD-U or RJD flags like my younger brother. I am now moving to the JDU office to sell my firecrackers," said Raushan, 16.


Pic: File pic of BJP workers getting laddoos ready ahead of counting day in the Maharashtra assembly polls in May.

On Friday, our sources in Delhi, had reminded us that a very senior BJP leader would have two reasons to celebrate on Sunday. His birthday, and Narendra Modi's defeat.

Here's what he said:

"Sunday, November 8, 2015.

That's the day the results of the five-phase Bihar polls will be declared.

That's also the day when BJP stalwart LK Advani turns 88.

For both the BJP and the JDU, RJD, Congress alliance or the mahagathbandhan, it's been a do or die election. BJP 'margdarshak' Advani will also be waiting for the results as well.


BJP circles are abuzz with speculation that Advani's inner circle  who are disgruntled with Narendra Modi will be at Advani's Prithviraj Road residence in New Delhi at 9 am. This is obviously to wish the grand old man of the party and also to wait and watch the emerging results from Bihar. By 11 am a clear trend is generally available.


Advani's coterie have placed their faith on the exit polls which say its a BJP loss (except Chanakya). If the exit polls are indeed true, and the BJP loses, the group will up their ante and mount a campaign about the possible scenario in Bihar. The Modi camp believes that Advani's daugher Pratibha, and his secretary Deepak Chopra, will brief the media in private and prompt the veteran to speak on the reasons behind the defeat of the BJP in Bihar.


It may be recalled that the LK Advani had refused to address the BJP national executive that was held in Bangalore in April. Reports had indicated he was unhappy over his steady marginalisation in the BJP by the new dispensation headed by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

Will the BJP go with 'old is gold' or resist change, remains to be seen." 


The anti-Modi section of the BJP have been counting their chickens for just such a loss and now, the chickens have hatched.

Celebrations at the Congress office in Delhi. The party leads in 13 seats.  

Just in: Shatrughan Sinha tweets: Appears that the issue of Bihari vs Bahari (and Bihari Babu's absence) has been settled once and for all. Wishing great luck to our victorious friends & appealing for introspection to our people. The writing was always on the wall."


Sinha, who has been nicknamed Bihari Babu and is the MP from Patna Sahib had not been invited by the BJP to campaign in Bihar. He said last month that it was "not by choice'. "My party workers, friends, supporters and well-wishers, wonder why I am not seen on campaign trail'.I assure them it is not by choice,' he had said in a series of tweets three days ahead of third phase of Assembly polls.


Sinha has become an almost-open rebel by meeting with Nitish Kumar on same evening of the day prime minister Narendra Modi strongly attacked the Bihar chief minister in July. If Modi attacked the chief minister's performance in Bihar, Shatrughan Sinha praised it. If Modi attacked the chief minister personally, even questioning his DNA, Sinha said such bitterness could have been avoided.

And Nitish Kumar responds, "Just received a phone call from the Prime Minister congratulating me. Thank you Modi-ji."

JUST IN: Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls up JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar, congratulates him on poll victory.


BJP president Amit Shah yet to be do so.

Celebrating the lead by the Grand Alliance according to the early trends in the countdown to the Bihar Assembly election results, the Congress on Sunday said the lead indicated that BJP's 'communal' politics has been rejected and the people have voted for 'inclusive development and social justice'.


"The BJP and their alliances were doing destruction in the name of development. They were trying to play communal politics but have received a strong retort by the people of Bihar. People here are aware of the sense of fear that has gripped the nation and are aware of what has happened in Dadri and Faridabad," Congress leader Sanjay Jha told ANI.


He asserted that this 'significant result' should warn the government that they can't afford to function like a 'dictatorship' in this nation. "We have seen that while polls were happening in Bihar, the BJP and the NDA has been trying to polarise the country only for an electoral advantage but Bihar has chosen to reject communal politics and vote for inclusive development and social justice," Jha said.


Adding that the verdict showed 'extraordinary significance', the Congress leader exuded confidence saying that the Mahagathbandhan's numbers will show a larger lead in the end and that this was a major loss for both the Prime Minister and the BJP.


"This is an absolutely profound verdict considering the Prime Minister made 35 rallies instead of governing the county, clearing indicating the 'Modi wave' is long over. People are tired of 'jumlabaazi and bayaanbaazi', they want 'kaamkaazi'. They want result and work instead of spinning yarns," Jha added.


Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore reporting from Patna sent us this picture of JDU supporters, who said, "Nitishji ke saamne, Modi kya tikenge (Modi has no chance before Nitish).

@TodaysChanakya tweets: We sincerely apologise all our friends & well wishers for not able to predict Bihar. Congratulations to the winning alliance.


Today's Chanakya exit poll predicted the widest margin of win for the BJP alliance, forecasting just 83 seats for the Mahagatbandhan and 155 for the BJP plus allies.

Former JK CM Omar Abdullah tweets: Congrats on a well deserved victory @NitishKumar sahib. Your victory will prove critical for the nation in the days ahead.


Mamata Banerjee @MamataOfficial  Congratulations @NitishKumar ji, Lalu ji & your full team. And all my Bihar brothers & sisters. Victory of tolerance, defeat of intolerance.

Nitish Kumar soon to follow in the hat-trick lead of Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Jyoti Basu (West Bengal), Biju Patnaik (Odisha), Manik Sarkar (Tripura), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Tarun Gogoi (Assam), as the next chief minister of Bihar.  Nitish tweeted saying he will be gracious in victory and thanks everyone for overwhelming support.

(JDU+182  BJP+ 150)


Meanwhile, the BJP's Parliamentary Board is likely to meet tomorrow to analyse the poll results in Bihar where the JD(U)-RJD combine has outshone the party-led NDA. According to sources, the board is likely to examine all the aspects and factors leading to the party's below par performance against the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance.


Party leader and Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav said it was for the top brass to analyse and introspect the reasons behind these results.


West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee says it is a win for tolerance.

Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena also said that the Bihar election results will mark a "new turn" in national politics as it "denotes decline of a leader".  He also asserted that if the elections were to be held in Maharashtra today, similar results will emerge.  Raut added Kumar has emerged as a "super hero".


Congress leader Ahmed Patel says, "Well done Bihar. Congratulations to the leadership and workers of Congress, RJD and JD(U). They have worked hard to defeat the false claims of NDA." 

I congratulate Nitish Kumar for this historic win, tweets Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

In BJP Patna office, celebrations stopped. Party-workers are now saying crackers were burst because of Advani's birthday.

"This is a big win for Nitish Kumar, he has emerged as a political hero," says the Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut. "We congratulate Nitish Kumar, this result will be turning point in country's political future," he adds.


The Shiv Sena shares a tumultuous relationship with ally BJP both at the Centre and Maharashtra. 

Sharad Yadav tells NDTV that efforts to communalise the elections failed. The BJP tried to hold the tail of a cow, he says.


When Congress loses then its Sonia-ji's responsibility, similarly #BJP must accept that #BiharResults is Modiji's responsibility, says Congress leader Sanjay Raut.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi @DrAMSinghvi  Emerging results prove that in electronic machine counting, correct picture always around 11 am. Today JDU +came ahead.


@KanchanGupta What is intriguing is 'forward castes', including Bhumihars and Brahmins, deserted BJP to vote for JDU+What explains this?


@arungiri  Quick analysis of EC data for 92 seats - MGB leads are in range of 1500 - 3000 votes.. NDA leads in 500-1500 range


Shekhar Gupta @ShekharGupta  Insinuation that if JDU-RJD win #Bihar crackers will be burst in Pakistan must rank among the lowest lines spoken in our election history


@samitbasu  Ancient saying: grab tail of cow, get dung on hands

(Read this for a context: BJP's 'beef' poster: EC bans attack ad after rivals cry foul)

An RJD supporter dressed as Lord Hanuman descended on Lalu Prasad Yadav's abode in Patna. Pic/Prasanna Zore.

BJP concedes defeat. BJP's Prakash Javdekar says the party lost to arithmetic of opposition unity. BJP's Ram Madhav says the party will take corrective measures. "But there is no dent in Modi support," Madhav says.

JDU+ 138, BJP+96, OTHERS 8

Nitish Kumar follows in the hat-trick lead of Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Jyoti Basu (West Bengal), Biju Patnaik (Odisha), Manik Sarkar (Tripura), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Tarun Gogoi (Assam). 


Nitish Kumar says he will be gracious in victory and thanks everyone for overwhelming support.

BJP's Ram Madhav concedes defeat to Times Now: "We will have to face a lot of opposition now. Will analyse what went wrong."


Ram Madhav tweeted earlier @rammadhavbjp What a comeback for JDU+. In 1 hour their leads hv overtaken dat of ours. It looks a photo finish. What an election.

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, reports from Patna:

So as fortunes change for the JDU-led Mahagathbandhan, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's home is drawing in the crowds. Supporters have slowly started to trickle in. Lalu's daughter Misa has said that the alliance will form the next government in Bihar and has given it 150 seats.

Ecstatic supporters are all around the vicinity shouting slogans. "Lalu-ji toh garibon ke masiha hai. Garibon ka masiha zindabad," rang out. India Today gives the Mahagatbandhan 131 seats; the BJP 95. Supporters caught hold of  poor man in the street and fed him with mithai. "Inhi ka vote hum ko jitaya hai," said an overjoyed RJD supporter.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

Owaisi-led AIMIM candidates are trailing, Lalu Prasad Yadav's sons are leading in their seats.


ANI: Latest party wise breakdown of leads #BiharResults JDU 66, RJD 63, BJP 62, Congress 12, LJP 10, RLSP 5, HAM 5, JAP 2, CPI 1, BSP 1, Other 6

Omar Abdullah @abdullah_omar The BJP needs to get a refund from some news channels for crackers wasted this morning.

According to EC data, after five rounds of counting, the Mahagathbandan leads in 135 seats, NDA in 90, Others in 7


Giriraj Singh, BJP on trends showing Mahagatbandhan leading: NDA hi jitegi, hamari sarkar banegi.


Sharad Yadav, JDU on trends showing Mahagatbandhan leading:  I congratulate the people of Bihar, I think we will get close to 150 seats.


Misa Bharti, RJD: This is nothing, we will cross 150 seats.

And our favourite on Twitter, Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats
Amit Shah: Watching NDTV. Feeling happy.
Nitish Kumar: Watching CNN-IBN. Feeling happy.
Rahul Gandhi: Watching Comedy Central. Feeling happy

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, reports from Patna:


Even as the electoral fortunes of the Mahagatbandhan take a dramatic reversal in fortunes celebrations have began in earnest outside the RJD office). Every result or lead is being cheered loudly -- drums beats get louder, shouting, cheering, shriller -- with every lead in favour of the Mahagatbandhan candidates.


Balli Yadav, general secretary, RJD said that the will of the people of Bihar has clearly indicated who the favourites are.

JDU''s Sharad Yadav gives the party 150 seats
Misa Yadav, Lalu's daughter, also gives the party over 150 seats.


This is what ETV has on the trends:
JDU+ - 132, NDA - 89, Others - 7

While the Prannoy Roy-led NDTV declared a BJP+ win as early as 9:30 am today, almost every other TV channel including the Election Commission website gave the Mahagathbandhan early leads. While lead figures differ marginally across channels during every assembly as well as general elections, this is probably the first time there have been such vast and varied figures in the early trends.  This is what the TV stations said at 10 am today.




NDTV: BJP+ 113,  JDU +  95
CNN IBN says BJP+ 89, JDU + 133, OTHERS 7
ABP:  BJP+ 91 JDU+ 108
India Today: BJP+ 100, JDU 97
Times Now: BJP+ 97  JDU 93 OTHERS 7
ANI quoting EC :  BJP+ 76 , JDU 119 OTHERS 9

Celebrations have broken out at RJD offices in Patna

FLASH: BJP president Amit Shah calls BJP Parliamentary board meeting at noon tomorrow.

Latest EC data; Mahagathbandhan leading in 119 seats, BJP in 76, Others 9

If the NDTV figures are indeed right, (110 for BJP+, 79 for Mahagathbandhan) RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav can certainly do with this gift. A supporter gets him live Rohu fish, which is supposed to be lucky. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met veteran BJP leader LK Advani on his 88th birthday, describing him as a guide and an inspiration. "Warmest birthday greetings to our guide & inspiration, the respected Shri LK Advani ji. I wish Advani ji a long life filled with best health."


PS. Body language readers will have a field day with this visual. That there is no love lost between the two leaders is clearly visible. Where's the eye contact, guys?

FLASH: Mahagathbandan is leading now according to latest EC data. Mahagathbandhan leading in 101, NDA 70, Other 10

NDTV calls the election. BJP and allies all set to form the government in Bihar with 145 to 149 seats, tweets Barkha Dutt.  


The BJP-led NDA was ahead in Bihar Assembly election results, according to the initial trends shown on TV channels. While some channels showed the saffron alliance almost sweeping the polls, some others also showed a much closer fight. On NDTV, NDA was shown to be ahead in 102 seats against 65 trending towards the grand alliance out of a total of 150 seats, projection for which was available out of the 243 seas.


ABP showed the NDA ahead in 75 while the Nitish Kumar-led alliance ahead in 70 seats out of 149. Trends suggested that the contest has boiled down to BJP-versus JD-U fight, with both parties doing much better than their allies.


Lalu Prasad-led RJD appeared to be suffering heavy losses, according to the initial trends. Among the NDA allies, Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) appeared retaining some ground but other allies like Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP were shown performing poorly.

PM Narendra Modi visits LK Advani on his birthday. Advani turns 88. 

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, reports from Patna:


Mourners at the RJD office in Patna, watch their fates unfold on TV. There is a funereal quiet at the office -- no slogans in Lalu Yadav's support or waving of the party flag. Lalu is not at the party office. A RJD worker says cryptically,  "position dekhkar aayenge." 

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, reports from Patna:


Meet Suresh Singh (78) from Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh. He arrived in Patna at 5  am and says he has been a BJP cheerleader since 1990. He has always been to every state assembly poll -- Delhi, UP (Lucknow), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Singh says the BJP will win more than 150 seats in this election. He says be spends his own money to travel to states to cheer party workers. 

Lalu's son Tejasvi Yadav trailing. 

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, reports from Patna:

Enthusiastic BJP supporters (BJP+ 80, JDU+ 48) have begun early celebrations bursting firecrackers outside the party office in Patna. When asked why they have started celebrating so early in the race, BJP worker Sanjay Singh says, "Yeh toh Bihar ki janta ka jashn hai."

The BJP claims to have over 600,000 workers, 10 workers each for the more than 60,000 polling booths. The five-phased polling also gives it the advantage of re-deploying these workers from areas where polling is over.

Its membership drive had notched up 9.6 million members in Bihar -- a seventh of Bihar's 68 million electorate. Add to this an estimated 70,000 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers from across the country and enormous resources at the command of the alliance. This cadre strength is helping the BJP not only mobilise its voters more efficiently on polling days but more effectively spread its message to the remotest of villages.

Jitan Ram Manjhi leading in Imamganj by 500 votes.

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, reports from Patna:


Nothing, not even cricket, can evoke as much excitement on the streets of Bihar. A group of about 40 people watch the drama unfold before the huge TV screens.  Govind Sah, a rickshaw puller is very reluctant to say what he thinks about who will win the election. "Ab dekhiye kya hota hai," he says.

As the JDU lead grand alliance trails (BJP+ 63, JDU+ 34), Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said he wasn't nervous. He told NDTV, "Ab nervous kya hona (why be nervous now)? I have done this many times."  Nitish is the chief ministerial candidate of the Grand Alliance, which combines his party, the Janata Dal United, with Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.

He is running for a third consecutive term in a bitterly fought contest that placed Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign. Modi held nearly 30 rallies in Bihar.

Lalu son Tejaswi and Ram Vilas Paswan's brother Pashupati Paras lead.

Leads so far:

BJP+ 56
JDU+ 26
OTHERS 2

BJP's Shatrughan Sinha, stops short of wishing his party: "Wishing all of our people success as the final counting ensues and the long awaited results start to unfold. Jai Bihar' -

Sinha has become an almost-open rebel by meeting with Nitish Kumar on same evening of the day prime minister Narendra Modi strongly attacked the Bihar chief minister in July. If Modi attacked the chief ministers performance in Bihar, Shatrughan Sinha praised it. If Modi attacked the chief minister personally, even questioning his DNA, Sinha said such bitterness could have been avoided.

Leads so far:

BJP + 32
JDU + 14
OTHERS: 0



As much as 56.80 per cent, the highest in assembly election in the state's history, of the 6.68 crore voters have exercised their franchise this time. A total of 14,580 officials have been deployed for the counting process in Patna and other districts. Votes were locked in 62,780 electronic voting machines.

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, reports from Patna:

It's still early hours yet, but the BJP office in Patna is buzzing with cheery supporters chanting 'Narendra Modi Zindabad' and 'Jai Shri Ram'. The JDU office in contrast, is a picture of quiet and calm.


Rajiv Ranjan, a JDU worker says that the calm is a sign of the Nitish storm to come in Bihar.


"A child who is well-prepared for his exam is always calm and confident. He comes, gives his exams and it shows in the results. You will see how the results will favour the JDU soon," he says justifying the lack of enthusiasm outside his party office.


Photograph: BJP workers outside the party office in Patna. Pic: Prasanna D Zore

And so the poll banter begins. A BJP candidate says Lalu should say goodnight. Before the counting began for the Bihar polls, a buoyant Lalu met reporters at his residence in Patna and greeted them saying, "Good morning to all. I slept well. We are winning."

BJP workers have performed a yagya in Kanpur before the counting began. 

The BJP estimates the 'Modi effect' will help it increase its vote share in Bihar from the 38.5 per cent that its alliance received in the 2014 multi-polar Lok Sabha contest.

The BJP needs a vote share of at least 43 to 44 per cent to win Bihar in what is now essentially a two-horse race. It hopes to beat the trend of failing to match its vote share of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in subsequent state elections in Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Delhi.

Incidentally, its only defeat -- drubbing, in fact -- since 2014 came where its main rival was a credible non-Congress party: In Delhi against the Aam Aadmi Party in February.

Jitan Ram Manjhi is leading in Makhdumpur.

Leads so far: BJP+ 9, JDU+ 6, OTHERS 0


The five-phased elections, which started on October 12 and ended on November 5, saw the lead campaigners from both the sides trading bitter accusations that at times turned personal.

Supporters bring sweets to Lalu Prasad Yadav's residence in Patna.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today greeted veteran BJP leader L K Advani on his birthday who turned 88, describing him as a guide and an inspiration.


"Warmest birthday greetings to our guide and inspiration, the respected Shri LK Advani ji. I wish Advani ji a long life filled with best health. "Advani ji's contribution to the country is invaluable. He has always been respected as a person of immense knowledge & integrity," Modi tweeted while hailing the former deputy prime minister.


"Personally, I have learnt so much from Advani ji. For Karyakartas like us, he is the best teacher & the epitome of selfless service," the Prime Minister said in another tweet. BJP patriarch L K Advani was born on November 8, 1927 in Karachi in Pakistan.

A well slept, well rested Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday expressed his confidence that the mahagathbandhan would emerge victorious in the Bihar Assembly elections.


Before the counting began for the Bihar polls, a buoyant Lalu met reporters at his residence here and greeted them saying, "Good morning to all. I slept well."


He asserted that the Grand Alliance was winning without a doubt and said he would answer every question in the evening. On the last day of voting in Bihar yesterday, Lalu had said that that the Grand Alliance would win 190 of the 243 seats.


"Nitish was and is our candidate for Chief Minister. Even if the RJD gets more seats, Nitish will be Chief Minister" Lalu said. Janata Dal (United) leader K.C. Tyagi also batted for Nitish as Chief Minister saying the was the man were the people of Bihar were rooting for.

Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, who is in Patna, and will be bringing us the ground reports from the state, spoke to two rickshaws pullers -- Lal Paswan and Ganesh Mahto. They will vote for  for Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, a BJP ally.

The two friends traveled from Purnea to Patna 25 years ago to support their families. "Kaante ka takkar hoga," says Paswan. "We support the jhopadi (hut, the election symbol of Paswan's LJP)," says Mahto. "He is our only leader. The day he joined hands with the BJP we vowed to vote for the jhopadi and the BJP," he adds.

"I have no wish as such but if a situation arises where I am asked to be the CM, then I will accept it and not back off. I'm surprised that Lalu-ji only said 190 seats and not 210 or more. In reality Mahagatbandhan has failed," says former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi.

As per the exit polls, Janata Dal-United led Mahagathbandhan or grand alliance has a slight edge over the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Only News 24/Today's Chanakya and India Today-Cicero's exit polls predict a win for the NDA.


At least 122 seats are required for majority in the 243-seat Bihar legislative assembly. n the outgoing assembly, the JD-U and the BJP had contested elections and together and won a massive majority.


The JD-U had won 115 seats and the BJP 91. The RJD had won 22 seats and Congress 4 when they contested on their own.