The reformist chief minister of Bihar, India's poorest state, swept back to power on Wednesday after trouncing his rivals in polls that punished the scandal-hit national ruling party. With a population of 83 million, Bihar has for decades been a developmental backwater, lagging behind the rest of India and earning a reputation as the country's most lawless region.
But incumbent Nitish Kumar has been credited with tackling crime and notching up an impressive annual economic growth rate of 11 percent during his first five years in office. His right-leaning Janata Dal (United) party, in coalition with India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, won 201 seats in Bihar's 243-seat state assembly, poll officials said after counting in the capital Patna.
"It's a vote for development," Kumar, 59, said in his acceptance speech. "It's clear that Bihar's people want Bihar to be on the road to success." He said increased turnout among women was a sign of progress, adding "I hope we can move Bihar ahead, the work has started, but there's a lot left to do." India's ruling Congress party, mired in a corruption scandal in New Delhi, had been expected to receive a drubbing despite campaigning by youth leader and presumed prime-minister-in-waiting, Rahul Gandhi.
"The results in Bihar elections indicate that our party has to start from scratch," Congress president Sonia Gandhi said as the official results gave the party just five seats. Congress is struggling to contain the fallout from what could be one of India's biggest corruption cases after national auditors said telecom licences were sold to favoured firms at a fraction of their value.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been accused by critics of failing to prevent the multibillion-dollar alleged scam, which forced telecom minister A. Raja to resign on November 14. Raja belongs to a small regional political party required by the Congress for its national coalition government. Analysts say the Congress's dismal showing in Bihar will also be blamed on its closeness to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party of regional strongman Laloo Prasad Yadav, a former chief minister in 1990 and 1995. Yadav, whose alliance collected 30 seats, has been accused of rampant corruption and sponsoring caste-based politics in Bihar.
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