Vikrant Shekhawat : Nov 10, 2020, 10:04 AM
Patna: Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan has widened the lead against Nitish Kumar-led NDA. As of 9:00 am, the Grand Alliance was leading in 94 seats, while the NDA was ahead in 77 seats. Early trends showed neck-and-neck competition between NDA and Mahagathbandhan. As of 8:37 am, the Mahagathbandhan was leading in 52 constituencies, while the NDA was leading in 43 seats. Most of the exit polls have predicted that Bihar might be on the cusp of a major generational shift in politics, with most pollsters predicting victory for the Grand Alliance led by young RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.The counting of votes of the Bihar election began at 8 am in 55 polling stations across 38 districts as per the Election Commission's Covid-19 guidelines.The state, which has 243 assembly constituencies, recorded 57.05 per cent turnout in the assembly elections this time, marginally higher than that of 2015 despite the Covid-19 pandemic, as per official data.Owing to the restrictions due to Covid-19, the Election Commission of India extended the polling stations. The poll panel said it has set up a total of 55 counting centres, housing 414 halls, spread across all the 38 districts of the state that voted in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7.