India, Nov. 15 -- The National Democratic Alliance's campaign in the Bihar election was pitch-perfect. At a macro level, it focused on three aspects: the empowerment of women; infrastructure and development; and the track record of incumbent chief minister Nitish Kumar, especially when contrasted with what it termed "Jungle Raj under the Rashtriya Janata Dal between 1990 and 2005.

All three worked.

35.14 million women voted in the election, compared to 39.37million men; around 90% of the electorate was around when the RJD was in charge of the state; and Bihar's infrastructure under Kumar has seen a visible improvement. Operationally, this was backed by a rush of pre-poll sops; the frictionless allocation of seats among alliance partners...