Legislative council results show 'countdown of Lalu, Nitish has begun': BJP

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar on Friday said the countdown of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has begun following the verdict of the state's legislative council elections in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The election results which are coming out today have very clearly shown which way the wind is blowing; it is definitely the Bharatiya Janata Party and NDA. In the outgoing legislative council, we were only five now the tally will be 30. And this entire election is from the local bodies that mean the voters are from all the 42,000 villages. Therefore, this has very clearly shown that the trend in Bihar is clearly towards BJP and NDA and the countdown of Lalu, Nitish has begun," Kumar told ANI here.

"It's a pointer that the entire Bihar has decided that they are going to bring Bharatiya Janata Party and NDA, they are going to give a mandate to BJP and NDA, and they are going to reject Lalu, Nitish combination," he added.

Kumar, who is the BJP's in-charge for Bihar, also thanked the voters and local body representatives for this historic verdict.

"With great humility and satisfaction, we accept this responsibility. And we only request them that they should translate this result as a huge mandate for Bharatiya Janata Party and NDA in the ensuing assembly elections," he said.

Putting up a good show, the BJP-led NDA won 14 seats in the legislative council elections while the Nitish Kumar-led alliance managed to win just nine of the 24 seats in Bihar.

The Bihar legislative council election was held on Tuesday with an estimated 94 percent voting recorded during the polls. 152 contestants were in the fray for the 24 council seats.