Bihar: A loss in the state today can turn attention to Modi govt's policies

Losing the state amid soaring unemployment and an economy experiencing the sharpest dive in decades will be a setback for Modi, who invested a lot of political capital in the campaign.

The opposition alliance in the eastern state of Bihar looks set to win a crucial election in a blow to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party was a key partner in the ruling coalition.

The state will count votes from the three-stage election on Tuesday and most exit polls have shown citizens rejecting the ruling coalition in favor of a new opposition alliance led by a charismatic 31-year-old politician.

Bihar is India’s poorest state, but with a population larger than any nation in the European Union it sends 40 lawmakers to federal parliament, giving it outsize political importance. Losing the state