India, Nov. 18 -- Election results are not easy to predict, especially in a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. However, when the difference between the winner and runner-up is as high as 10% of the votes cast, as was the case in Bihar this time, there ought to be some inkling, at least directionally, of what the results could have been. However, the opposition, and a section of the commentariat sympathetic to it, seem to be in denial about why the results are the way they are. Allegations of electoral fraud have started doing the rounds, as has become the pattern after opposition losses in recent elections. Here are three charts which tell us why Bihar results fit perfectly well with the long-term political trajectory of the state.

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