Patna (Bihar) [India], November 14 (ANI): Ahead of the Counting across 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar, Janata Dal (United) on Friday predicted its victory, saying on social media that only a few hours are left before the 'government of good governance' returns.

https://x.com/Jduonline/status/1989143748631228627?s=20

In a post on X, Janata Dal (United) shared, 'Just a few hours to wait, the government of good governance is returning once again (Bus kuch ghanto ka intejaar, fir se aa rahi hai sushan ki sarkar).'

There is an air of expectation in the NDA camp with Exit Polls predicting the return of the Nitish Kumar led NDA government in the state.

Bihar Minister Hari Sahni said., 'Today the results will be a reflection of the good governance of the NDA government...The results will be in favour of the NDA government and we will secure more seats than expected.'

BJP candidate from Bankipur & Bihar Minister Nitin Nabin said, 'We are all confident that this time, the NDA seat tally will be near that of the 2010 elections. NDA is going to form the Government...We will get 200 plus seats. They (RJD) are still not able to let go of their mindset of 'jungle raj'. RJD is the symbol of 'jungle raj'.'

Bihar enters the verdict stage as vote counting is set to begin at 8 am, alongside bypolls in eight assembly segments across six states and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which saw bypolls for their respective vacant seats.

The Bihar Assembly Election voting took place in two phases, on November 6 and November 11. The counting for the 243 Bihar assembly polls will be conducted today. The winner will be declared on the same evening.

This is the first assembly election in the country in two decades, which was conducted following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.

The exit polls predicted that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is poised to form the government again in Bihar.

In 2010, the Nitish Kumar-led alliance with the BJP secured a comfortable majority of 203 seats in the 243-seat assembly. While the JD(U) won 115 seats, the BJP won 91 seats. In the current alliance arrangement, both the JD(U) and BJP agreed to contest 101 seats each, while distributing the rest to their alliance partners. In 2015, the JD(U) allied with the Congress and RJD to win the mandate again.

The exit polls also predicted that Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj, which made its debut in the Assembly polls, is unlikely to make any splash in terms of seats.

People's Pulse poll survey gave 133-159 seats to NDA, 75-101 seats to Mahagathbandhan and 0-5 seats to Jan Suraaj. Others, it said, are likely to get 2-8 seats.

While the first phase of polling was held on November 6, the second phase concluded on Tuesday. The state has seen record polling in the assembly polls. Counting of votes is set to take place on November 14. (ANI)