BJP takes early lead in Bihar vote count

The BJP-led alliance on Sunday morning took initial early but crucial leads as officials began counting the millions of votes polled in the assembly elections.

Election Commission officials said the BJP and its allies were ahead in seven of the 243 constituencies and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) combine was ahead in two seats where early trends were available.

The BJP was leading in four seats, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) in two seats and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ramvilas Paswan in one seat.

Counting of the millions of votes polled in the five-phase assembly polls began on Sunday, with officials first taking up the postal ballot.

The staggered election to the 243-seat assembly started on October 12 and concluded on November 5.

The BJP contested 160 seats and its allies the LJP 40, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) 23 and the HAM 20 seats.

In the Grand Alliance, the JD-U and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) fielded 101 candidates each, while the Congress contested 41 seats.

Bihar Additional Chief Electoral Officer R. Lakshmanan said the first result was expected after 11 a.m.