India, Nov. 14 -- A ripple of dhol beats broke through the winter haze on Patna's Beer Chand Patel Path early Friday, long before the city had rubbed the sleep from its eyes. By 8am, just minutes into the counting, the twin power hubs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United), merely 400 metres apart, were already bursting into spontaneous celebration as the first trends signalled a powerful NDA wave sweeping the Bihar assembly elections.

Outside the BJP office, the first dholbeat landed tentatively, as if they were testing the political weather. But the hesitation vanished the moment television screens lit up with saffron climbing sharply. In an instant, workers erupted into a jubilant roar, spinning into spirited danc...