Bihar exit polls: Landslide expected for BJP & allies, rout for Opposition

Most exit polls predicted a Bhartiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (U) sweep in Bihar, with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) projected to win over two-thirds of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats.

On the other hand, the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress mahagathbandhan may get tramped, a majority of the exit polls forecast. The possible result in Bihar could put the NDA in a strong position to form a government at the Centre. 

India Today-My Axis India Exit poll predicted a landslide victory for the BJP-JD(U)-LJP alliance, giving them 38 of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Another survey, by The Republic-CVoter, gave the saffron alliance 33 seats and the grand alliance seven. On the other hand, TimesNow-VMR Exit Polls predicted 30 seats for the NDA and 10 for the Congress-RJD alliance. 

The exit polls, however, have got it wrong in Bihar in the past. In the 2015 Assembly elections, most exit polls had predicted a BJP win, and got it completely wrong. Five years ago, the BJP, dumped by Nitish Kumar, bagged 22 seats in Bihar, whereas its allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party mopped up six and three seats more, totalling a massive 31 seats for the NDA. The RJD could win only four seats, whereas Nitish Kumar's JD(U) was decimated to just two. 

The very next year, Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad joined hands and routed the BJP in Bihar Assembly elections. However, much has changed since then, including Nitish returning to the NDA fold. 

Under the seat-sharing formula, the BJP-JD(U) contested on 17 seats each and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP on six. The NDA was in direct fight against the grand alliance, led by the RJD-Congress. The general elections in Bihar was held in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. 

Despite an apparent sense of jubilance in the NDA camp, there is also a palpable concern with the stakes so high. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah led 10 rallies each across the state.