Our Correspondent, New Delhi

The race for power in the Indian eastern state of Bihar was set to go down to the wire yesterday as trends available late this evening indicated that the opposition alliance led by Rashtriya Janata Dal narrowed the gap against ruling National Democratic Alliance which includes BJP.

As per the latest data from the Election Commission, the NDA has won four seats and led in 120 seats while the RJD combine has bagged two seats and was ahead in 106.

The majority mark in the 243-assembly is 122.

A final picture is expected only around midnight because of the tardy pace of vote count.

Despite the NDA leading the table, having won or leading in 125 seats, three more than the number required for a simple majority in the 243-member assembly, it’s not done and dusted yet. With more than two third of the votes still to be counted, and the margin of lead being less than 1,000 in about a score of seats, the game is still wide open.

Going by the trends, the BJP looks set to trump its senior NDA partner Janata Dal (U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Bihar. The party leads in 74 seats. The JD(U) has so far won two seats and its candidates were leading in 39 seats.

The RJD has won two seats and its nominees are leading in 68 others, giving a close competition to the BJP to finish as the largest single party. Its ally Congress is leading in 19 seats.

It was a see-saw battle all the way when vote-count began this morning. First, the opposition alliance established a lead and an hour into the counting, the NDA surged ahead and stayed in that position for much of the day. The opposition made a thrilling comeback later in the day.

The Bihar election was the first democratic exercise in the midst of the pandemic amid a high-octane campaign that saw the Nitish Kumar battling the anti-incumbency amid a rebellion in NDA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has campaigned heavily in the state.