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Bihar Elections: Left Parties Fare Well Compared With Congress, JD(U)

The CPI (ML) looks set to win 12 out of the 19 seats it is contesting, making it the party with the highest strike rate this election.
CMI(ML) candidate Sandeep Saurav, who defeated JDU's Jaivardhan Yadav from Paliganj seat
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CMI(ML) candidate Sandeep Saurav, who defeated JDU's Jaivardhan Yadav from Paliganj seat

NAGPUR, Maharashtra: It’s still unclear who has the advantage in the 2020 Bihar assembly election as the BJP and RJD continue their neck-to-neck battle, but one thing is clear: the Left parties in Bihar are clearly outperforming many mainstream parties this year.

At the time of writing this report, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) had won or was leading in 12 seats out of 19 seats that were allotted to it as a part of the seat-sharing deal with the RJD-led Grand Alliance. Some of its notable wins are in Paliganj, where former JNU student Sandeep Saurav defeated the JD(U) candidate, and Agiaon, where popular Dalit leader Manoj Manzil left his rivals far behind.

According to the Election Commission’s website, the Communist Party of India has won or is leading in two out of the six seats allotted to it in the Grand alliance.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), another constituent of the RJD-led Grand alliance, was allotted four seats in this election. As per the ECI website, the CPI(M) has won two and is leading in two seats.

Out of a total of 29 seats that were allotted to the Left parties in the grand alliance, they have either won or are leading in 16 seats, outperforming Congress and JD(U) in their strike rate.

Left leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who hails from Bihar and had contested the Lok Sabha election from Begusarai Lok Sabha seat last year, did not contest the election but had campaigned for the Left party candidates, drawing a sizable crowd to his rallies.

The win registered by a significant number of Left candidates in Bihar as part of the Mahagathbandhan is a big boost to the movement, which has weakened in many other states.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.