Gap between NDA & oppn vote share in state narrows to 9% from 27% in ’19

Patna: The vote share of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) went down by 8.83% in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state, even as it won 30 of 40 seats, according to the data available on the Election Commission of India website.Parties attached to the NDA together accounted for 45.51% vote share in the state, a drop from 54.34% of 2019. The opposition INDIA bloc, on the other hand, improved its tally from 27.19% in 2019 to 36.5% this time — a sharp jump of 9.31%.

While the gap between the NDA and the oppn bloc’s vote share in the state was 27.15% in 2019, it narrowed to 9.01% this time. The fall in the NDA’s vote share was apparent as its seat tally in Bihar nosedived from 39 in 2019 to 30 this time. The opposition camp that had managed to barely open its account in 2019 romped home nine seats this time.In the NDA, Janata Dal (United) saw its vote share dropping from 22.26% in 2019 to 18.52% this time, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 24.06% to 20.52% and LJP(RV) from 8.02% to 6.47%. In the INDIA bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD’s) vote share improved from 15.68% in 2019 to 22.14% in 2024. A revamped Congress managed to improve its vote share from 7.85% in 2019 to 9.20% this time.Like in some other states, the INDIA bloc bettered its performance in Bihar by winning nine seats. Lalu Prasad-led RJD won four, Congress three and CPI(ML)(L) two seats. Independent candidate Pappu Yadav, on the other hand, emerged victorious from Purnia.The NDA’s tally in Bihar decreased by nine seats as the JD(U) lost four — Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia and Jehanabad — and the BJP lost in Patliputra, Ara, Buxar, Aurangabad and Sasaram Lok Sabha seats. In the NDA, JD(U) and the BJP won 12 seats each, while the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) secured five seats, and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) won one seat.In yet another striking trend, the NDA suffered a drubbing in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections, losing six of the eight constituencies that went to polls in this round on June 1. These six seats went to the kitties of INDIA bloc candidates.Of the four seats RJD won in the state, three went to polls in the final phase – Patliputra, Jehanabad and Buxar. The other two seats – Ara and Karakat – were won by the CPI(ML) Liberation candidates. The NDA won only two seats in the final round – Patna Sahib (BJP) and Nalanda (JD-U).Raj Bhushan Choudhary, Muzaffarpur BJP candidate, was the one who won the polls by the highest margin of 2,34,927 votes in the state. He defeated Ajay Nishad of Congress. BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Saran BJP nominee, won the polls by lowest margin in the state as he defeated Lalu’s daughter Rohini Acharya by a slender margin of just 13,661 votes.