Counting of votes in high-stakes Bihar polls to begin shortly

November 08, 2015 07:47

The counting of votes in the high-stakes close-to-call Bihar assembly elections, billed as a hot battle between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will begin shortly.

The verdict for a majority of seats is expected by the early afternoon.

Most of the exit polls have predicted a close contest between the BJP-led NDA and the grand alliance of JD(U)-RJD-Congress with a slight edge to the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led grouping.

However, two of them, including Today's Chanakya and the one done by Hansa for NDTV, have given a clear majority to the NDA.

While Kumar is not in the fray, among the prominent faces in the battle are mahadalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has fought from two seats, and two sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad have also made their electoral debut.

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.

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