The bigger setback to the BJP, however, comes in Bihar. Despite the unprecedented use of money and muscle power, despite the brazen manipulation of both the electronic and the print media, ably assisted by its penpushers in the media, the BJP and its allies could not make much headway. In fact, in the general elections last year, along with its allies, the NDA led in 200 out of the 324 assembly segments. This time round, they have won only 122. This, once again, despite the projections made by the doctored exit polls designed to influence the voter, which predicted the NDA winning 195 seats.

Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal and the CPI (M) have together won 125 seats, with the RJD alone winning 122. The understanding with which the CPI (M) forged an electoral alliance with the RJD has been vindicated by the results. The CPI (M) had maintained that despite the RJD's shortcomings, acts of commission and omission, it still represented the main bulwark against communal forces in Bihar. This turned out to be a correct assessment. The BJP had left no stone unturned to somehow or the other, come to power in Bihar, including its efforts to twice impose President's Rule in the state. Yet, it could not succeed!