As counting progresses in Bihar, the NDA is heading for a decisive victory, leading in nearly 200 of the 243 assembly seats. The numbers mark a dramatic return for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose political obituary had been written many times over the past year. Instead, the results suggest an emphatic endorsement of his social welfare model and long-cultivated support base of women and extremely backward classes. This will pave the way for Nitish swearing in for the 10th time.

This decisive mandate is also a good news for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government. The emphatic endorsement of the Modi-Nitish combination has ensured that the SIR controversy failed to click with the voters and that the Centre could push for bigger reforms. The Modi government’s engagement with

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