What Went Wrong in Crucial Bihar Election for Mr. Narendra Modi, Why, What’s At Stake and What he Must Do

Preview

PDF, English Download (1MB) | Terms of use Download (1MB)

Abstract

Bihar, a highly backward state in India, witnessed the announcement of the results of the election to the state’s Legislative Assembly on 8 November, 2015. Bihar is the third largest state (province) by population with a size of 104 million people. It has approximately 67 million registered voters (more than the entire population of France) of which 56.8% voters (9% more than the entire population of Canada) exercised their voting right in this election. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partners, viz., the Hindustani Awami Morcha Secular (HAMS), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) have lost to the MahaGathBandhan (MGB) or “The Grand Alliance” constituting Janata Dal United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Indian National Congress (INC). Out of the 243 assembly constituencies (seats) in the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections that elect a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for each constituency in a first past the post system, MGB has won 178 seats while NDA won 58 seats. A state assembly is chosen for a period of five years in India and is controlled by a political party or alliance that has a simple majority in the state assembly (greater than 50% of the seats). Therefore, the MGB now controls the state assembly.