Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition is predicted to win the Bihar election, retaining power in India’s third most-populous state.
Most exit polls released after voting ended on Tuesday showed the National Democratic Alliance led by Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP party winning a comfortable majority in the state legislature, beating a grand opposition alliance led by the Congress party of Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
The election in one of the country’s poorest states was conducted in two phases on 6 and 11 November and witnessed the highest voter turnout ever of 66.91 per cent, as per the Election Commission of India.
A party or coalition needs 122 of the 243 seats in the legislature to form a majority government.
The ruling coalition in the state is headed by longtime chief minister Nitish Kumar, leader of the Janata Dal United and a key ally propping up Mr Modi’s government.
Bihar plays a crucial role in national politics and any setback for the ruling alliance in the eastern state could threaten Mr Modi's coalition in Delhi.
A victory is expected to be a shot in the arm for Mr Modi’s government, which is facing scrutiny for its handling of terrorism threats and allegations of vote theft, ahead of key state elections in Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The BJP enjoys a strong support base only in Assam.
According to the exit poll by Matrize, the ruling alliance is predicted to win 147 to 167 seats in Bihar. The Dainik Bhaskar poll gives it 145 to 160 seats as against 73-91 seats for the main opposition.
The People’s Insight poll puts the ruling coalition at 133-148 seats and the opposition alliance 87-102.
The results will be declared on Friday.
The election was marred by many allegations and discrepancies. Some voters were angered by the revision of the voter list by the election commission which removed dozens of eligible voters, even declaring them dead in some cases.
Jitni Devi, 85, said she was removed from the list and could no longer vote or access her pension.
"They have declared me dead," she told Reuters. "People in my village tease me as a dead woman and bank officials shoo me away when I go to withdraw my money.”
The election commission removed around 6.5 million voters from the draft electoral rolls earlier this year, sparking allegations of vote theft by opposition leaders and critics ahead of the election. These voters were presumed to be absent from their addresses or dead.
Mr Gandhi said the missing voters could be used by the BJP to claim victory in Bihar.
The election commission said the revision was done after a door-to-door verification drive in June and July that reached all 78.9 million registered voters in Bihar. The first extensive update of the electoral rolls since 2003 was long overdue, the commission argued, but its timing just months before the election was seized upon by opposition politicians as well as former officials of the poll body as a suspicious move.
The Bihar revision is now in the eye of a wider political storm, sparked by Mr Gandhi accusing the poll body of enabling widespread electoral fraud to benefit Mr Modi.
