In Bihar election, 'Mahagathbandhan a mess, NDA to win 220 seats': BJP puzzled by Tejashwi

As the bugle for the Bihar assembly elections was blown on Friday by Election Commission of India, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, setting high expectations for the NDA coalition, said that the NDA will win at least 220 seats out of total 243 seats in the Bihar assembly polls.

"In Bihar, NDA will win at least 220 seats in the 2020 elections. As far as the Opposition is concerned, they have no existence. Like the Lok Sabha elections, they will be wiped out in this election. The NDA alliance had won 39 out of 40 seats in Bihar," Hussain told ANI.

"The people of Bihar will bless the NDA in Bihar and will give 220 seats easily on the basis of the good governance under the leadership of Nitish Kumar in the state and the work done by the Prime Minister at the Centre and the work done especially for Bihar by the Centre," he added.

He refuted any such occurrence of rifts in the NDA and said that the alliance will put up a united fight. Speaking of the opposition he took at dig at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav saying that no one is ready to accept him as their leader and the grand opposition alliance (Mahagathbandhan) is in a mess.

"Tejashwi Yadav has made his father's face disappear from the posters. The grand alliance is broken and no one is ready to consider Tejashwi Yadav as the leader," Hussain said.

"On the contrary, all the leaders in the National Democratic Alliance, including our national president, have already said that our only face is Nitish Kumar. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi's work and Nitish Kumar's good governance in Bihar, the NDA will fight unitedly and win 220 seats in the elections," he added.

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Bihar Election dates announced

The Election Commission of India in a press conference on Friday announced the schedule for the Bihar assembly elections. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said that the polls for the 243-member legislative assembly will be held in three phases. First phase will be held on October 28, Second on November 3 and the third on November 7, while the counting of votes and results declaration will be held on November 10. Sunil Arora also informed that the Model Code of Conduct will be in effect from Friday with the announcement of election dates.

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NDA vs the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar elections

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who leads a coalition with the BJP, will fight for a fourth term in these elections, with the opposition RJD and the Congress challenging him. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) includes Janata Dal-United, BJP, Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha.

In the 243-member assembly seat, NDA currently has 131, and Mahagathbandhan has 101 seats (11 seats are vacant). In the 2015 assembly polls, CM Nitish Kumar's JDU, then a part of the Mahagathbandhan won 71 seats, Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD won 80 seats, and Congress won 27 seats. The BJP which fought the elections alone after Kumar in 2013 broke the 17-year-old alliance won a mere 53 seats out of 157 contested. However, the saffron party came back to power when Kumar ditched the Mahagathbandhan and once again stitched an alliance with the BJP.

(With ANI inputs)

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