10-point guide to Bihar election results: Lalu, Nitish & BJP’s hawk eye

H ere we go with our 10 quick takeaways from this Bihar election result.

● The first is that however incredible this landslide might look, the ossified vote banks remain. As fights become more direct, either between two parties or alliances, the gap between a rout and a landslide can be just a few percentage points. The JDU got 15.39 percent vote in 2020 and it has now gone up by about 4 percentage points to 19.26 (provisional figures at the time of writing) . The BJP has risen, but only by a percentage point to 20.11 (provisional figures) . Both have contested in a few seats fewer but let’s read that as marginal because these have gone to their allies. The most important ally, the Paswan dynasty’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), for example, contested just 29 seats this time, compare