Nitish takes a dig at Lalu before Bihar Election Results

Counting of votes for the 243- member Bihar assembly election will be taken up across the state amid tight security today.

The eagerly awaited results will determine whether the Nitish Kumar- led NDA government gets an opportunity to govern the state for the second consecutive time or the Opposition led by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad and the Congress manages to put an end to his eventful fiveyear tenure.

Various exit polls have forecast a resounding victory for Nitish. But his rivals have rejected the findings of the polls, saying they were meant to influence the authorities.

Lalu also accused a section of the media of playing partisan role in the election and went to the extent of saying that some of the media persons were vying for the Rajya Sabha ticket from Nitish. A visibly angry Lalu said the media had failed to report on the election in a free and fair manner and would face a loss of face after the poll results.

“ It is a dangerous trend for democracy that the media has become a party to the game of poll battle,” Lalu said.But Nitish said Lalu’s criticism of the media following the results of the exit polls was not justified.

“ In my opinion, Laluji has remained in the maximum focus of the media over the years,” Nitish said. “ I think he has been the poster boy of the media.” He said that Lalu himself was responsible for the situation he was in today. Refusing to be swayed by the exit poll results, Nitish said he is waiting for the results of the polls like an ordinary citizen.

The stage is set for the counting of votes for the 243 assembly seats and Banka Lok Sabha by- election. The votes will be counted at 42 centres spread across the state. Altogether 3,523 candidates, including 308 women, are trying their luck in this election. Of these, the Congress had fielded its candidates from all the seats while the Janata Dal- United (JDU) and the BJP had put up 141 and 102 candidates, respectively.

The RJD and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had 168 and 75 nominees in the six- phase election spread over one month.There are 1,324 Independent candidates in the fray as well.

The final results of the assembly polls are expected to be announced by afternoon while the trends will start coming in around 10 in the morning.

Prominent among those whose fate will be decided on Wednesday are former chief minister Rabri Devi — she is contesting from Raghopur and Sonepur — besides a host of NDA ministers like Ashwini Choube, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Prem Kumar, Damodar Rout, Renu Kumari, Awadesh Narayan Singh, Nand Kishore Yadav, Renu Kuhwaha, Narendra Narayan Yadav, Hari Narayan Rai and Gautam Singh.

The state presidents of JD- U, RJD, LJP and the Congress — Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Pashupati Kumar Paras and Mehboob Ali Kaiser, respectively — are also in the fray.

Late MP Digvijay Singh’s widow Putul Kumari is contesting as an Independent from Banka in the Lok Sabha by- election necessitated by the death of her husband earlier this year. The Nitish government held its final cabinet meeting on Tuesday and decided to recommend dissolution of the state assembly on Wednesday. The Nitish government had come to power in Bihar in November 2005 after the NDA won 143 seats, bringing to an end the 15- year long tenure of the Lalu- led RJD.