Ahead of the Assembly elections in Bihar, the BJP on Friday bested rival Nitish Kumar’s alliance by securing a majority of the 24 seats in the Legislative Council elections.

By late evening, the BJP and its allies looked set to win 13 of the 24 seats. The BJP was set to secure 11 seats while allies Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party were well on their way to bag one seat each. Polling had taken place for 24 seats of the Legislative Council from local bodies on July 7.

The BJP was clearly buoyed by the results and declared that Nitish’s “balloon has deflated before it could float”.

“Tables have turned in Bihar. The ruling alliance has suffered a decisive defeat. Ahead of the elections for the Assembly, it reflects the mood of the voter in Bihar. The BJP increased its tally from five to 13 while the Janata alliance has dropped from 13 to five seats.

“A befitting reply has been given to Nitish Kumar and his arrogance,” said BJP spokesperson and Bihar leader Shahnawaz Hussain.

To the JD(U)’s protestations that the Council elections through local bodies are no indication of voter behaviour in a direct election, Hussain said: “These are results from 43,000 villages from every corner of Bihar. Twelve to 18 members from each ward in every panchayat have voted. This is a bigger sample size than any opinion or exit poll conducted before elections.”

Silence in JD(U) camp There was silence in the JD(U) camp as the party had been expecting to sweep these polls. Local elections in general favour the ruling party in most States. Hussain shared the party’s plans for the upcoming polls.

Under BJP president Amit Shah’s monitoring, the party has divided up Bihar into four zones for campaigning — Kosi, Muzaffarpur, Begusarai and Patna. The party’s local stalwart Shiv Narain is in charge of electioneering in Kosi, Pawan Sharma is looking after the Muzaffarpur region, CR Patil is in charge of Begusarai while Patna region is a shared responsibility.

“The State unit has a gift for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he comes back. We have already bagged a victory. And he will lead us to the two-third majority and the target of Mission 185+ set by our president Amit Shah,” said Hussain.

Modi is addressing a rally at Muzaffarpur on July 25 after which the BJP’s campaign in the State will gather speed. The party plans to send a prachar rath — essentially a vehicle fitted with video recordings of Modi’s messages for Bihar and other campaign material — to every village. The party will organise as many as 30,000 public rallies addressed by local and national leaders across the poll-bound State.

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