India, Nov. 15 -- The exit polls were right all along. Bihar has chosen to give another five years to the NDA with thumping majority. What may be debated is not the victory itself, but the margin of it. The National Democratic Alliance's emphatic win in the Bihar elections marks one of the most decisive mandates the state has witnessed in recent years. What makes this outcome remarkable is not merely the scale of the majority, but the clarity with which voters opted for continuity over change, organisation over loose alliances, and national issues over the local ones.
The opposition's inability to convert anti-incumbency into electoral advantage saw the smooth sailing for the NDA. Although dissatisfaction existed, it did not consolidate in...