Exit polls give Nitish an edge over Lalu

The Nitish Kumar-led NDA seems to be a clear gainer in the third phase of the Bihar Assembly elections held today, according to exit polls conducted by television channels.

The trend also shows consolidation of votes behind the two major political formations ""the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)"" with Paswan and Independents doing far worse than the last round of elections held in February 2005.

An estimated 43-45 per cent voters exercised their franchise today in the elections to 57 Assembly seats, which concluded peacefully amid tight security

The Channel 7 (Jagran group) exit poll shows Kumar as a gainer in this round of polling with Ramvilas Paswan-led Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) and Independents as the biggest losers.

While the NDA is shown as securing 27 of the 57 seats (gaining five seats compared with the February elections), the Secular Democratic Front, as the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal-CPI(M) alliance is known in this elections, is predicted to get 23 seats, which shows a gain of one seat since February.

The LJP is projected to get only two seats in this round, losing one seat from the February results, while the Independents' tally is predicted to come down from seven in February to five in this round.

The exit poll conducted for Star News has made somewhat similar projections. Here the NDA combine is projected as getting 27 seats and the RJD combine trailing at 22, with no gain or loss.

The LJP is projected at three seats and Independents, five. Again, the edge that Kumar has is obvious and this is an ominous sign for RJD chief Lalu Prasad. The areas that went to polls today were considered RJD stronghold because of Muslim and Yadav domination.

The Zee News poll shows Independents and others as getting slightly more than the other exit polls, although the NDA is projected as getting 26 seats against the RJD, which is projected to get 21 seats. The biggest loser in Zee's poll is Paswan as the LJP is seen as getting only three seats.

The constituencies, which went to polls today, include the areas on the Nepal-Bihar border. The NDA seems to have made inroads into this RJD stronghold as these exit polls show that the NDA influence is strong this time round.

According to exit polls in the last three phases of voting Kumar got an edge over Lalu. But it still remains to be seen whether the Janata Dal (United) leaders will be able to get a clear majority to stake claim to form the next government in Bihar.