Gaya ji (Bihar) [India], November 14 : Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) candidate from Tikari assembly constituency Anil Kumar on Friday said he is confident that the party will win all six seats it contested and that Nitish Kumar will return as Chief Minister with a strong majority.
Speaking to the reporters in Gaya ji, Anil Kumar said, "We will win the seats and Nitish Kumar will become the Chief Minister of Bihar with a heavy majority. HAM Party will win all 6 seats it contested. The margin of seats might increase..."
As the counting of votes began for the Bihar Assembly elections on Friday, early trends show the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) past the halfway mark of 122, strengthening its lead over the Mahagathbandhan.
At 9:30 am, NDA was leading at 150 seats, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) ahead on 65 and 63 seats each.
JD(U) has maintained a high conversion rate of greater than 68 per cent, with the BJP at a 66 per cent conversion rate.
Mahagathbandhan was lagging behind, with a lead of just 75 seats. While Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was leading on 49 seats, their allies are showing an underwhelming performance as per the early trends. Congress is leading on 16 seats while Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation is leading on six seats. The RJD holds the highest conversion rate in the alliance of 36 per cent.
Meanwhile, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj was leading on three seats and AIMIM was ahead on one seats.
Among prominent faces, Tejashwi Yadav is leading on the Raghopur seat, BJP's Samrat Choudhary and Maithili Thakur are ahead on the Tarapur and Alinagar seats, respectively.
Counting of votes for all 243 constituencies began at 8 am amid tight security. Officials began tallying postal ballots, with the counting of EVM votes scheduled to start at 8:30 am.