Lok Sabha polls | NDA stuns INDIA in Bihar

The BJP-led NDA was leading in as many as 32 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar but suffered stunning reverses in politically critical Uttar Pradesh where the INDIA bloc had forged ahead in 42 out of 80 constituencies.

In a performance that almost mirrored its success five years ago, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates had taken winning leads in 12 constituencies and its allies JD(U) and LJPRV were in the lead in 15 and 5 places respectively.

Setback for INDIA

INDIA ally the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), whose main campaigner was Tejashwi Yadav, was leading in just four seats, the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) in two and Congress was leading in a solitary seat.

Although exit polls had predicted a BJP-NDA sweep in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav and the Congress had vowed to turn the tables in Bihar, which elects the second largest contingent to the Lok Sabha after neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

BJP stunned

Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, brought terrible news to the BJP as the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine powered their way ahead in 42 constituencies, leaving the BJP and allies behind at 37.

The INDIA candidates in the lead were Kunwar Danish Ali of Congress against the BJP’s Karan Singh Tanwar at Amroha, SP’s Audesh Prasad in Faizabad-Ayodhya against the BJP’s Lallu Singh, SP’s RK Chaudhary in Mohanlalganj against the BJP’s Kaushal Kishore and SP’s Ujjwal Raman Singh in Allahabad against the BJP’s Neeraj Tripathi.

Rahul and Modi

Congress star Rahul Gandhi had widened his lead against the BJP’s Dinesh Singh in Rae Bareli by 1.10 lakh votes. In neighbouring Amethi, KL Sharma of the Congress was leading over Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani by some 40,000 votes.

After initially trailing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi revered the trend in his Varanasi constituency and was leading by 33,000 votes against Ajay Rai of the Congress.

Hema Malini

The BJP’s Arun Govil was in the lead in Meerut by over 43,000 votes against SP’s Sunita Verma. Film actor and BJP leader Hema Malini had taken an unassailable lead of more than 95,000 votes in Mathura against Mukesh Dhangar of the Congress.

Former chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was in the lead in Kannauj.

Exit polls

The BJP contested 75 seats in Uttar Pradesh, leaving five to its allies. The SP and the Congress contested 62 and 17 seats respectively.

Most exit polls had predicted more than 60 seats to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.