Bihar Elections: Vote count begins

The BJP alliance is taking on the Maha Gathbandhan which consists of JD(U), RJD and Congress

Counting of the millions of votes polled in the five-phase assembly elections in Bihar began on Sunday morning, officials said.

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

Read more from our special coverage on "BIHAR ELECTIONS"

• Bihar Elections: Good Morning India, we are winning, says Lalu
• Bihar elections: Counting of votes tomorrow
• Bihar elections: EC issues notice to BJP over beef ad
• Bihar elections: Voting begins in 57 constituencies in final phase
• NDAs Bihar election hopes rest on the poor

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contested 160 seats and its allies the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) 40, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) 23 and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) 20 seats.

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

Votes are locked in 62,780 EVMs with 14,580 officials on duty for the counting process in Patna and other districts, officials said.

The fate of 3450 candidates, including 272 women, will be decided during the day.

The five-phase elections started on October 12 and ended on November 5.