Nitish-Lalu alliance ahead in Bihar, predicts Times Now-CVoter exit poll - Times of India
Nitish-Lal alliance ahead in Bihar, predicts Times Now-CVoter exit poll
NEW DELHI: The Mahagatbandhan of chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad is set to retain power in Bihar with a slender lead over the BJP-led NDA in the bitterly-fought 2015 assembly elections, according to Times Now-CVoter exit poll.
The JD(U)-RJD-Congress Mahagatbandhan is projected to win 122 seats, with a vote share of 42%, which is exactly the majority-way mark in the 243-member Bihar assembly.
The BJP-led NDA is projected to win 111 seats with 41 per cent of votes, according to the exit poll.
Other parties including the independent candidates will win 10 seats with a 17 per cent vote share, says the Times Now-CVoter exit poll.
The exit poll shows a massive 12 per cent swing in favour of the Mahagatbandhan compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. This translates into a gain of 71 seats for the Nitish-Lalu alliance.
The BJP alliance, which did exceptionally well in the Lok Sabha elections, has managed to better its performance marginally by only 2 per cent. But this 2 per cent swing hasn't translated into seats and they are projected to lose 63 seats compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and its allies had won 31 seats, which translated into 174 assembly seats.
The Times Now-CVoter poll is based on random stratified sample of over 35,000 interviews covering all 243 segments in the state during the polling days. The data used for this projection is up to 2pm for the final phase of voting on Thursday. The figure will be updated subsequently. Margin of error in vote share calculation is +/-3% at State level and +/- 5% at Regional level.