Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav alliance may be a 90-seat worry for BJP

Contesting separately, they could have defeated NDA in only 70 seats. But they have the potential to win as many as 160 seats under the alliance.

By ET Bureau | Updated: Jun 12, 2015, 07.45 AM IST

Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav alliance may be a 90-seat worry for BJP

BJP-led NDA’s virtual sweep of Bihar during 2014 Lok Sabha elections has forced a political realignment leading to a grand alliance of RJD-JD(U)-Congress-NCP for 2015 assembly elections. There are reasons for NDA to worry.

The graphic below shows how the NDA lead in 173 assembly segments during 2014 Lok Sabha elections could witness an erosion of up to 90 assembly seats if the assembly wise votes of the partners of grand-alliance are taken together.

Contesting separately, the partners of grand alliance could have defeated NDA in only 70 assembly seats. But, they have the potential to win as many as 160 assembly seats under the grand-alliance.

A coalition requires 122 seats to secure an absolute majority. Ravish Tiwari & Ravi Seth crunch the numbers.