7.8 per cent more votes for Grand Alliance gives it another

A 7.8 per cent more votes for the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance over BJP-led NDA's tally fetched it another 120 seats catapulting the Nitish Kumar-led coalition to a landslide two-third majority, according to an analysis of Bihar poll results.
The Grand Secular Alliance with 41.9 per cent votes got 178 seats in a Hosue of 243 while the NDA with 34.1 per cent votes could get only 58 seats, final election data tonight showed.
Lalu Prasad's RJD with 18.4 per cent votes bagged 80 seats to emerge as the single largest party while Nitish Kumar's JD(U) garnered 16.8 per cent votes to notch 71 seats. They both contested 101 seats.

Congress, the third partner in the Grand Secular Alliance, fared creditably winning 27 of the 41 seats it contested. It polled 6.7 per cent votes.
The BJP, which contested 157 seats, polled the highest number of votes(24.4) but could bag only 53 seats.
BJP's NDA allies -- the Lok Jan Shakti Party and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) -- could manage only two seats and one seat respectively, polling 4.8 per cent votes and 2.3 per cent votes. They contested 42 seats and 21 seats respectively.

The Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, another BJP ally, contested 23 seats but won only two with a 2.6 per cent vote share.

The JD(U) with BJP as ally in 2010 Assembly polls bagged 115 out of the 141 seats it contested with a vote share of 38.77 per cent votes. BJP bagged 91 of the 102 seats and its vote share was the highest at 39.56 per cent votes.
The RJD, which waas trounced, could manage only 22 out of the 168 seats it contested against the JD(U)-BJP coalition and had a vote share of 18.84 per cent.
The Congress won only 4 of the 243 seats it contested and had a vote share of 8.37 per cent.
The Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, NCP and the AIMIM, which contested the Bihar assembly polls, have failed to make an impact with their vote share getting restricted to 2 per cent or below.

Percentage-wise, around 2.5 per cent voters hit the 'none of the above' button which is placed as the last option on the electronic voting machine.
BSP, which contested all the 243 seats, managed 2.1 per cent of the total votes polled.
BSP had decided to go it alone in Bihar unlike arch rival Samajwadi Party which first became a part of the 'grand alliance' but later joined hands with NCP to form a 'third front' which too could not last long.
Samajwadi Party had contested 85 seats in Bihar and its share was one per cent.
The NCP, which walked out of the 'grand alliance' over seat allocation, had contested 40 seats. Percentage-wise, its vote share was 0.5 per cent.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which contested in six seats mainly in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region, drew a blank and managed 0.2 per cent of the total votes polled.