Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition is headed to win a key state election in a vote seen as a crucial test of Modi’s popularity in one of the country’s poorest yet most politically influential states.
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Partial results on Friday from the Election Commission of India, the country’s election watchdog, showed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) expected to take 208 seats of the 243-member legislature in the eastern state of Bihar.
A simple majority to form the government is 122. Modi’s party alone is forecast to take 95 seats.
A victory in Bihar, the country’s third-most populous state with nearly 130 million people, is crucial as it sends the fourth-highest number of lawmakers to the lower house of parliament.
Its control strengthens the party in power as the state is seen as a political bellwether, setting political trends across India’s Hindi-speaking heartland.
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This year, the two-phase election was held amid widespread public concerns over unemployment, law and order, and alleged irregularities in revision of electoral rolls.
It saw hard-fought campaigns marked by mass rallies, aggressive welfare messaging and personal outreach to voters, both by Modi and his opponents.