NITISH WINS TRUST VOTE, RJD-LED OPPN WALKS OUT

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) comfortably won the trust vote in the Bihar assembly with three RJD MLAs switching side at the last moment.

The NDA garnered a total of 130 votes in its favor, in the house where the majority figure is 122. The opposition Grand Alliance led by RJD's Tejashwi Yadav walked out of the House before the voting as it was clear that the NDA had more than the required numbers.

This had become evident after a motion of no confidence against Speaker Avadh Bihari Chaudhary, who is from the RJD, was passed comfortably in the house leading to Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari, who is from the Janata Dal (united), presiding on the chair. Hazari later ordered a headcount of MLAs after having declared the trust motion as passed through voice vote.

Today's developments, for now, have brought curtains on the political drama that the state has been witnessing for the last two weeks after Nitish Kumar had left the Grand Alliance on 28 January and joined hands with the BJP.

While it was more or less given that the NDA will win the trust vote given the number of MLAs it theoretically had, there were reports that attempts were being made to poach MLAs from both the alliances leading to speculations that CM Nitish Kumar and the NDA would fail at the last moment to prove that they had the numbers.