A resounding political victory often poses the question whether there was a game-changer. To argue that the victory resulted from a fortuitous combination of many factors appears less attractive. Analysts are tempted to search for game-changers so that a dramatic-looking outcome can be explained by equally dramatic looking new formulation. The victors, on their part, need the big story because such a story feeds into a narrative that can help them beyond the immediate terrain of the electoral victory. In the recently held Assembly election in Bihar, which resulted in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning nearly half the votes polled and bagging nearly 90% of the seats in the Assembly, this State election appears to be a case where some key factors must have produced this scale of

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