- One of the few state elections that must have evoked great interest and attention must have been the recently concluded one in Bihar. As you are aware, Bihar is not only one of the largest states in the country but also one of the poorest in terms of per capita income. The very mention of Bihar encapsulates what ideally should not be visible in the modern-day world, where right from amenities to law & order to job opportunities to employment opportunities are at par with other parts of the country. Since Nitish Kumar assumed the office of Chief Minister, things have changed for the better. For the uninitiated, Nitish Kumar has been at the helm of affairs in Bihar for the last twenty years, enduring the frequent switching of sides.
PC: News Arena
- Prima facie, the anti-incumbency factor must have weighed down on the NDA government as it sat down to strategize on the assembly polls. However, some of the socio-welfare schemes like direct transfer of money to women and hiking of widows’/elderly/disabled pensions, just before the polls, must have struck a chord with the electorate. The resultant outcome is a spectacular win in the recently concluded polls, with the NDA winning 202 out of the 243 seats. It’s a big win by any stretch of the imagination, even as the opposition Mahaghatbandhan fared poorly, winning just 33 seats. The opposition had projected RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav as the CM face much before the polls commenced. The NDA didn’t specifically announce the same, but Nitish was assumed as one.
PC: Deccan Herald
- Of course, the exit polls were unanimous in declaring that the NDA would win the polls handsomely. But none of the exit polls gave the NDA such an overwhelming margin of victory. The opposition stands completely decimated, with the Grand Old Party winning a mere 6 seats. Thus, all the bluster, acerbic, and vitriolic attacks of Rahul Gandhi against the NDA, especially PM Modi, and the Election Commission of India for an imaginary vote theft have come a cropper. What does this win mean to Bihar? The moot point to ponder over here is how the BJP-JDU can start changing Bihar’s economic trajectory going forward. The resounding confidence shown by Bihar’s electorate, more specifically, women voters, must be reciprocated by the government.
PC: ETV Bharat
- One key takeaway from BJP-JDU’s monumental seat haul is that it’s clear the voter is neither expecting nor looking to the state to provide those elusive ‘government jobs’, no matter promises made. There’s certainly a realization that governments simply cannot generate the jobs required. But there’s much that the government can do. And what is visible to the Bihari at large, both at home and to the migrant, is what’s been put in place over the last decade – building blocks for a state to develop. Government investment in road infrastructure is evident – even rural roads have expanded from a mere 1,000 km to 1L km. Over 58L dwellings were built in rural Bihar in the last 10 years. Piped water coverage is total. Power consumption has increased. Law & order is relatively stable. The next Bihar government can only further improve from here.
