Owaisi, Mayawati or Upendra Kushwaha: Why RJD-led Grand Alliance lost fort Bihar to NDA?

PATNA: Despite RJD becoming the single-largest party in Bihar by getting 75 seats in the assembly elections, the Grand Alliance or as the Mahagathbandhan, it was pinning its hopes on, could manage to secure only 110 seats, much below the required majority mark to form a government in the state. 

Party-wise performance:

Of the Grand Alliance 110 seats, RJD's allies Congress won 19 seats while Left parties secured 16 seats — the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) won 12, CPI and the CPI(M) won 2 seats each.

The NDA secured 125 seats and crossed magic mark of 122 seats in the 243-member house. BJP won 74, Nitish Kumar's JD(U) secured 43, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Jitan Ram Manjhi`s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) won 4 each.

The remaining seats were divided among Asaduddin Owaisi`s All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) which won five followed by one seat each by Chirag Paswan`s Lok Janshakti Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). One Independent was also elected.

The remaining seats were divided among Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM which won 5 seats followed by one seat each by Chirag Paswan's LJP and Mayawati's BSP. One Independent has also been elected.

Factors that led to the loss of Mahagathbandhan in Bihar assembly poll: 

AIMIM emerged as a surprise package in the polls by clinching 5 seats. It made significant inroads into the Seemanchanchal region which has a large presence of the Muslim voters. In other words, it causes a big dent in RJD's M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) equation. Candidates of AIMIM not only won the Muslim votes, but also won from Amaur, Yasi, Jokihat seats in Bihar. The party also won the Kochadhaman seat. 

Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan appeared to be succeeding in damaging Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led party by playing a major role in its poor show in many seats. And while it could win only 1 seat for itself, the LJP was instrumental in not just JD(U) but RJD's loss in many seats. 

Although Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP could not won any seat, its coalition's role was very important in this election. RLSP registered a good presence in several seats including Dinara, Saffron. BSP showed its strength in the areas of Bihar adjacent to UP.

In Ramgarh seat, there was a tough contest between BSP's Ambika Singh and Sudhakar Singh, son of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh. While BSP secured the Chainpur assembly seat, it remained on number 2 spot in Gopalganj. Apart from this, the party also influenced the electoral arithmetic of several seats in Bhojpur and Shahabad.

It was clear that apart from the Brand Modi magic that resulted in the good show of NDA in the Bihar assembly election, it was Owaisi and BSP that together gave the major blow to RJD in the poll.