Nitish Kumar resigns: Here's how numbers add up in the Bihar Assembly

In a day of dramatic development, Bihar CM Niitish Kumar resigned from the post of CM saying he is forced to do so after RJD failed to give any credible explanation regarding corruption charges against Tejashwi Yadav. Later in the evening, senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi announced that BJP will give support to Nitish Kumar to form government in the state. 

Now let's look at the mandate given by Bihar electorate in 2015 and whether this new political alignment will be enough to form a government in the state. 

Out of 242 seats, Mahagathbandhan won 178 seats. 

JD(U) won 71, RJD won 80 and Congress 27. 

NDA won 58. Out of which BJP had 53, RLSP won 2, LJP 2 and HAM won 1 seat. 

CPI(ML) Liberation won 3 seats and Independents won 4 seats. 

So the number game is pretty clear. 

JD(U) + NDA will be 129, well above the magic number of 122 needed to form the government in the state. So as the number stands, Nitish Kumar is in pole position to form the next government in Bihar with his old ally BJP. 

 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on late Wednesday evening declared 'unconditional support' for Nitish Kumar, who only a few hours back resigned as the Bihar Chief Minister. "Nityanand Rai ji and I called Nitish ji. The BJP has decided to support him. We will support the government formed under him. We will inform the governor also," BJP leader Sushil Modi told ANI.

The BJP leader, however, maintained silence over the kind of support or place that would be given to Nitish, and said further decisions will be taken later. "We have accepted him as a BJP leader, and further decisions will be taken later," he said.

Earlier, Modi, while welcoming Nitish's decision, said, "The JD(U) has been consistent in its stand against corruption and the BJP has also expressed its support to Nitish on the same. We are happy that the Bihar Chief Minister didn't compromise on issue of corruption and did not kneel down before the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress." Modi further said that the committee, based on views of state leadership, will decide its future course of action accordingly. Earlier, the BJP had said that it was not in favour of any mid-term elections.

With ANI inputs