such a grand victory, nitish babu!!

India News Today knew and almost everybody knew [except Rabri and Lalu - if you don't know them, they are husband wife team of buffalo-shepherds from Bihar] that Nitish will win by a comfortable margin. But Nitish has done much better than all predictions and expectations by winning 204 out of 243 seats.

There will be great debates and analyses on why the oppositon was so badly routed, why Prince Rahul's charm did not work, which area worked for whom and so on, but the most plausible reasons for the outcome will sure be:

• too much family and 'jaat' linkages in RJD-LJP: none of Lalu clan has won.
• visible development: road repairs and new roads, more jobs, less migration, more children enrolment in schools - all are visible, however patchy they may be.
• less crime: the 'goonda raj' of Lalu period is much under control, better overall law and order situation.
• less casteism, though in Bihar of the day, caste equations are important; also, less discrimination on caste basis.
• better administrative support as the official machinery is less frustrated and less Lalu-ised.
• Rahul's rhetoric looked too distant.
• 'Pipli live': was it one of the factors, though a marginal one?

India News Today's earlier posts on Bihar elections / politics were:
Nitish coming back; Lalu's lalten dims
Bihar elections: jaat, in-laws, outlaws