Vote share RJD 23.32   4.85 Cong 9.44   2.79 BJP 19.33   5.07 BIHAR JD(U) 15.3   1.0 LJP 5.65   0.85 AIMIM 1.24 Nota 1.69   0.81 Others 24.02 KOZHIKODE l Wednesday l november 11, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION   Percentage change compared to 2015 elections Source: ECI (As of 9 pm Tuesday) That Nitish Kumar will be the CM has been cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief J P Nadda much before the elections If Nitish Kumar becomes Bihar chief minister, despite winning less number of seats (as compared to the BJP), he should thank the Shiv Sena for it Our strike rate in Bihar is 80% and if we had been given more seats, we would have contributed more to the MGB tally BJP’s victory in Bihar is vindication of PM @ narendramodi’s good governance, especially during COVID19. Poorest of poor were taken care of by the government. That Bihar didn’t slip back to Jungle Raj is very important for India. Thank every Bihari for trusting NDA again BJP Bihar chief Sanjay Jaiswal Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut CPM leader Sitaram Yechury Tejasvi Surya, national president, BJP Yuva Morch Those calling us that have got a befitting reply and their mouths will now be shut in the future as well AIMIM national spokesperson Asim Waqar CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI BJP does better than Nitish’s JD(U); focus now on naming the new CM RJD has highest vote share, is single largest party, but alliance flounders Oppn momentum falters as Cong fails to match even its score in 2015 Owaisi eats into Oppn’s Muslim vote share in Seemanchal, set to get 5 se a t if ever there was a cliffhanger of an election, with the pendulum swinging wildly by the hour, this was it. Till late evening, the day belonged to the alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (United), prompting the BJP to prepare for a grand victory celebration at the central party office in the heart of Delhi. But the ladoos, firecrackers and dhols had to be put on hold as the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led mahagathbandhan closed in, turning the Bihar election 2020 into an edge of the seat thriller. Till midnight the ruling alliance was still marginally ahead, with leads/wins in 122 out of the 243 seats while the mahagathbandhan had 114. But the results/trends also exposed the fault lines between the BJP and the JD (U). This was because the JD (U) was the biggest loser, relegated to a distant third at 43 seats, down nearly 30 from its 2015 tally. For this, it openly blamed Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party . While the LJP just won a single seat, it ate up 5.7% of the vote share, cutting into the JD(U)’s base. More significantly, Chirag had openly worked against chief minister Nitish Kumar during the campaign f-wa Bihar MahaGath Bandhan m ark @ Patna/New Delhi al 243 122 BJP: 73 ■ JDU: 43 ■ VIP: 4 ■ HAM: 4 R A J E S H T HA K U R & M ANI S H ANAN D H y ■ l ta s 124 national democratic alliance To NDA Ascendant in seesaw ■ while praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With such a close race not witnessed in a long time and throwing up many possibilities, BJP leaders Sushil Modi, Bhupendra Yadav, Ntiyanand Rai and Sanjay Jaiswal rushed to Nitish’s residence, remaining closeted till late at night and reassuring the chief minister that he was their leader. Union home minister Amit Shah also called Nitish. But whatever be Nitish’s grudge against Chirag, the election results only underlined his waning appeal. The mass mood was that he had become arrogant in the last five years, ruling the state through an unpopular and inaccessible bureaucracy. So even if he becomes the first Bihar CM to rule for a fourth straight BIHAR 2020 term, his position is bound to be much weaker. In 27 seats the margins were so thin that the Rashtriya Janata Dal smelt a rat. Party leader Tejashwi Yadav filed a written complaint with the Election Commission in Patna, complaining of being robbed of at least seven seats. But addressing the media past 10 pm, EC officials in New Delhi denied the charge. The election result was also a story of what might have been for the young Tejashwi. Throughout the campaign he drew large crowds and created a huge hype around the unemployment problem in the state. 113 CPM: 2 ■ CPI: 3 ■ CPIML: 12 ■ Cong: 19 ■ RJD: 77 Madhya Pradesh (28) BJP 19 | Cong 9 GUJARAT (8) BJP 8 UTTAR PRADESH (7) BJP 6 | SP 1 MANIPUR-5 BJP 4 Independent 1 BJP activists exult as the NDA does well in the Bihar Assembly polls, in Patna on Tuesday | PTI But that didn’t translate into votes. The uniform view for this failure was that Tejashwi was unable to shake off the widespread feeling among the people that if the RJD came to power, it would mean the return of the jungle raj. This fear of a return to lawlessness was repeatedly stressed by Modi and Nitish at rallies and on the face of it, jungle raj trumped unemployment. “The NDA campaign on the return of the jungle raj created a kind of fear psychosis among the voters,” said R K Verma, a political analyst. The numbers also signaled a deeper churning in state politics, with sub-regional factors playing out. While the NDA did exceedingly well in the Seemanchal, Mithila, Champaran and Ang regions, the mahagathbandhan performed better in the Bhojpur, Magadh and central parts of Bihar. The election also saw the emergence of Asaduddin Owaisi’s All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen as a force in some Muslim-dominated areas, harming the RJD. The AIMIM benefited from its alliance with Mandalite parties such as the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and helped itself by winning five seats, up from one it held in the outgoing assembly . Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 156 for 7 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 65 not out, Rishabh Pant 56; Trent Boult 3 for 30) lost to Mumbai Indians 157 for 5 in 18.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 68). Orange cap Purple cap K L Rahul RABADA 670 runs 30 wkts Boult from the blue Trent Boult (left) picked up three wickets as Mumbai Indians restricted Delhi Capitals to 156/7 in the IPL final at Dubai on Tuesday. Shreyas Iyer top-scored for Delhi with an unbeaten 65 | SPOTZPICS 5 titles make Rohit Sharma the ‘Numero Uno’ playercum-leader in the IPL Govt to wind up CFLTCs, vacate edu institutions WITH more Covid-19 patients in Kerala opting for home isolation and the demand for firstline treatment centres (CFLTCs) coming down gradually, the state government plans to shut down 158 such centres. Around 55,000 Covid patients are currently under home isolation while 15,018 of the total 24,935 beds at the FLTCs are lying vacant. Sources said the authorities will wind up the CFLTCs in education institutions and hostels first, thereby giving them enough time to be ready for re- TPR falls below 11% in state Officers Association president Dr Joseph Chacko said the CFLTCs are unnecessary, and patients having comorbidities and severe symptoms need the care. “We’ve to utilise our resources and infrastructure wisely Human resources have . to be managed judiciously at this point of time. Home isola- At 10.97%, Covid-19 daily test positivity rate in the state has touched the 10 per cent-mark again since September 23 6,010 tested positive 6,698 recovered 54,751 samples tested AIMIM: 5 BSP: 1 ■ IND: 1 LJP: 1 Wins + leads in 59 seats across 11 states A ruthless Mumbai Indians won an unprecedented fifth Indian Premier League defeating Delhi Capitals by five wickets in Dubai on Tuesday. suming classes. The health authorities have recommended the ‘Malappuram model’ Covid management in all districts. Malappuram, which does not have CFLTCs anymore, is relying on Covid second-line treatment centres (CSLTCs) and domiciliary care centres (DCCs). Kerala Government Medical ■ ■ ■ Bypoll outcome Five-star Mumbai S h a i n u M o h a n @ T’Puram 8 OTHer parties 4,95,712 Total confirmed case tion is something we’ve implemented successfully and right now our focus should be on elderly patients. For that, we need more second-line treatment centres,” said Dr Chacko. He said non-Covid patients too need care. According to officials, 150-160 Covid care centres are currently functioning in educational institutions. “The government may reopen schools in the near future and it’s high time we stopped using such infrastructure for Covid management. To begin with, we’ll wind up Covid care centres functioning in PG hostels,” an official said. P2 KARNATAKA (2) BJP 2 JHARKHAND (2) Cong 1 | JMM 1 ODISHA (2) BJD 2 CHHATTISGARH (1) Cong 1 NAGALAND (2) NDPP 1 Independent 1 TELANGANA (1) BJP 1 HARYANA (1) Cong 1 BJP sweeps bypolls in MP, UP, Gujarat; wrests Dubbakka seat from TRS M ANI S H ANAN D @ New Delhi If the bypoll verdict on Tuesday is any indicator, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have arguably got the nation’s endorsement for his Covid-19 management, as the BJP bagged or was leading in as many as 40 on 59 Assembly seats across 11 states where they were held. The biggest gainers were Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh, as they were assured of stability on the back of the BJP’s sweeping victories in both the states. Barring Haryana and Telangana, ruling dispensations managed to control the bypoll narrative elsewhere. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath further consolidated his hold, winning six of the seven Assembly by-election seats at stake. Chief ministers B S Yediyurappa (Karnataka), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and Hemant Soren’s alliance (Jharkhand) bagged two seats each in their respective states. In Gujarat, the BJP government led by Vijay Rupani won all eight Assembly bypoll seats. The big surprise came from Telangana as the BJP bagged the Dubbaka Assembly seat with a slender margin. Its nominee M Raghunandan Rao trounced Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) candidate Solipeta Sujatha by 1,118 votes. By wresting the seat, the party got bragging rights for taking its ambitious Mission South agenda forward. The BJP’s performance came despite its national leadership staying away from the campaigns, focus as it did on the Bihar Assembly polls instead. The party’s state leaders demonstrated their dominance over the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, while denying opportunity to the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh to make a comeback. Defector Jyotiraditya Scindia delivered on his promise as the BJP shrugged off a spirited Kamal Nath-led Congress campaign to win 19 of the total 27 Assembly seats. In Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Manipur, the BJP’s fortunes rode on imports from the Congress in recent times. As for the big picture, BJP leaders sought to read in the outcome a vote of confidence of the people in the leadership of the prime minister amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Put house in order, take seniors into confidence, BJP prez tells Surendran ganisational responsibilities. “Surendran was told to take THE BJP national leadership is all senior leaders, including understood to have criticised former state presidents, into state president K Surendran for confidence and convene a meetnot taking all sections within ing of the state core committee the party into confidence and soon. He was asked to give a functioning as a cohesive unit message to the cadre, before the when two crucial elections are civic body polls, that all leaders in sight. stand united,” said a senior Sources privy to the leader privy to the meeting between BJP meeting. national president J P Nadda also reportNadda and Surendran edly asked Surendran in New Delhi said the about numerous comstate chief was told to plaints that he received put the house in order about the party reorat the earliest. ganisation and downNadda meeting grading of senior leadSurendran on a day ers such as Sobha to when the Bihar poll There’s no dispute less important posts. r e s u l t s w e r e a n - in the party. Even Surendran told the naif you ask me nounced shows how tional president that seriously the central repeatedly on the the final office-bearmatter, this will be leadership views the ers’ list was released my response. dissidence in the state with the blessings of unit. general secretary (orK Surendran, BJP state president The meeting came ganisation) B L Sanin the midst of comthosh. However, Sanplaints raised by senior leaders t h o s h , t h e t o p R S S including Sobha Surendran to representative in the BJP, is the national leadership that learnt to have denied any role Surendran’s style of function- in the last-minute rejig. This ing was harming the party . has put the onus solely on the The dissident leaders had state president, who is seen as pointed out that those who are Muraleedharan’s protégé. not identified with the V MuSurendran continued to be in raleedharan faction were being denial mode when reporters in deliberately kept away from or- asked him about the meeting. S O V I V I D YA D HA R AN @ T’Puram PROTECT CM’s personal staffer, says K Surendran CM’s addl private secretary C M Raveendran’s life is in danger in the wake of him being called by the ED for quizzing, BJP state chief K Surendran has said. P4 EXPRESS READ ED quizzes Shaji in bribery case Kozhikode: The Enforcement Directorate in Kozhikode quizzed K M Shaji, MLA, in connection with the Azhikode Plus Two bribery case on Tuesday. ED is probing the financial transactions of Shaji in the last 10 years, including construction of his house. P4 3 govt schools top all-India rankings T’Puram: Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, in the state capital has been ranked No. 1 in the 14th annual Education World India School Rankings 2020-21 among government schools. Two other schools in Kerala also came among top 10. P5 Bhagyalakshmi, others get bail Kochi: The High Court has granted anticipatory bail to dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi and co-accused in the YouTuber assault case. The court observed that it did not find it necessary to keep them in jail. P5 India second in Covid-19 testing New Delhi: India has conducted the second highest number of tests for detection of Covid-19 cases in the world at 11.96 crore with rapid antigen tests comprising 49% and RT-PCR 46% of the total tests done till Tuesday.