After twists and turns and allegations of false votes, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was declared as the winner of the Bihar Assembly election in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The NDA knocked the majority mark of 122 at when the clock was near to 3 am.

The NDA returned to power in Bihar, though by the slimmest of margins, as results on the Election Commission site indicated that it crossed the majority mark of 122 seats in the 243-member house as the NDA comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal United, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) winning 125 seats in all.

The BJP emerged victorious on as many as 74 seats while the JD(U) managed to win on 43 seats. Smaller allies, the HAM and the VIP won four seats each. The Lok Janshakti Party, which had quit the NDA in the state in the run-up to the October-November elections, ended up with one seat.

The opposition Mahagathbandhan ended up with 110 seats, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal winning 75 seats, the Congress 19 and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) winning 12. The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist won two seats each. The remaining seats were divided among Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM which won five, while the Bahujan Samaj Party won one. One Independent was also elected.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the people of Bihar have given a ‘decisive decision’ to give development a chance. PM Modi's tweets came minutes after Home Minister Amit Shah announced victory in Bihar for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

(With inputs from IANS)