BJP alliance leading in Bihar

The BJP-led alliance on Sunday took early but crucial leads as officials counted the millions of votes polled in the Bihar assembly elections, sparking off celebrations by BJP activists.

Election Commission officials said the BJP and its allies were ahead in 25 of the 243 constituencies while the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) combine was ahead in 16 seats where early trends were available.

BJP leaders in both Patna and New Delhi said they were confident of winning the five-phase electoral battle that began on October 12 and ended on November 5.

"I congratulate the people of Bihar for voting for development. The credit goes to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's and (BJP president) Amit Shah's leadership," BJP spokesman Kailash Vijayvargiya told the media.

In New Delhi, BJP leaders ordered a huge quantity of sweets, saying they were sure of a victory.

The BJP was leading in 18 seats, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) in five seats and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ramvilas Paswan and the Rashtriya Lok Sama Party (RLSP) in one seat each.

In the Grand Alliance, the JD-U of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was ahead of its rivals in five seats and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad in eight seats. The Congress was forging ahead in three seats.

The RJD and the JD-U fielded 101 candidates each and the Congress 41.

The BJP contested 160 seats and its allies the LJP 40, the RLSP 23 and the HAM 20 seats.

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