The marathon counting of Bihar assembly poll votes contained the thrill usually available in blockbuster Hollywood thrillers or even more and at the end of a long day on Tuesday and a good portion of the following night, the ruling NDA managed to retain power. There will hardly be earlier instances when results of a state election had been decided on such a large number of seats with winning margins exactly skin-thin, even as low as just 12 votes! This speaks volume of the level of fight and although it has been an electoral defeat for the Mahagathbandhan, the results send the message to one and all of the political parties in the country, particularly the opposition that coalition politics do has a role in Indian electoral democracy and for throwing an apt challenge to the formidable BJP-led NDA, there’s no way but to nurture it.

It could have been anybody’s game and swings of very small percentages detected at final counting rounds have been the ultimate decider. The ruling JDU-led NDA managed it with 125 seats, only three more than the magic figure of 122 in the 243-seat assembly and the Mahagathbandhan, or the grand alliance comprising RJD, Congress, Left and others managed 110. While the numbers are always the final determinants of political fates of contestants vying for the corridors of power, the people of Bihar as well as the entire country will remember this election for the exemplary fight made by the opposition led by its chief ministerial face and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. The young man, viewed as a political greenhorn has cemented his mark in the political landscape of Bihar emphatically and of the country to a certain extent with the message that the vacuum created by the absence of his father Lalu Prasad Jadav is finally going to be filled by him. Analysing the result (if it’s a numeric victory for the NDA, it’s undoubtedly a moral victory for the alliance), it mustn’t have escaped attention that the Congress has failed to live up to the expectations. Had its performance been up to the mark, Wednesday’s newspaper headlines would have been different. The other interesting development is the rejuvenation of the Left, now existing only in Kerala after getting wiped out in Bengal and Tripura. Whether Nitish Kumar, even as the CM will be robbed off of his erstwhile clout with BJP’s seats (74) outnumbering the JDU’s (43) handsomely, is a matter under deep discussion now and time will tell in which direction Bihar politics heads.

But, the biggest takeaway from this election must be the realisation by the constituents of the opposition that it’s only through a cohesive coalition, the invincible NDA can be challenged.