Bihar election news 2015: As Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance whipped BJP-led NDA in Bihar polls, leaders and political analysts termed it as victory of “principles over moneybags” and “defeat of intolerance”. Stunned by the defeat, BJP leaders said the party will take corrective measures, while its long-time ally Shiv Sena appeared taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by saying that the Bihar election results “”denotes decline of leader”.

Soon after trends showed the Grand Alliance taking a lead over NDA, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav described it as a “victory of principles over moneybags”.”It was a very difficult fight. On the one hand were moneybags and on the other were principles. It is a victory of principles over moneybags,” he added. Here are top 10 factors that led to BJP’s defeat:

1. Political analysts said that the reasons for the victory of Grand Alliance of JD-U, RJD and Congress mainly included Nitish Kumar’s popularity, while some of them also said voters are showing a tendency to prefer different parties at Centre and in States. Similar views were expressed after Delhi assembly results.

2.Prashant Kishore has also emerged as a key strategist in national politics, as he successfully engineered a winning formula for the Grand Alliance, after a similar feat during Lok Sabha polls when he was in the core team of Modi’s campaign.

3.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had come out in support of Grand Alliance during polls, congratulated Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad on victory of their alliance and termed it “”victory of tolerance, defeat of intolerance.”

4.The issue of intolerance dominated the national debate during the five-phase elections in Bihar with a large number of artists, writers and others returning their awards to protest against what they called an ‘atmosphere of rising intolerance’ in the country.

5.Among others, the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comment on a rethink over caste-based reservations also was a key issue during the elections and is said to have consolidated backward votes against NDA. The polarisation debate is also said to have consolidated minority votes in favour of Grand Alliance.

6.The comments from various BJP leaders including by Union minister V K Singh on Dalits and other issues could have also played a role, the analysts said.

7.Initially, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi was also seen as playing a spoilsport in the the Grand Alliance by trying to corner minority votes, but his party failed to make a dent.

8.Congress mostly remained on sidelines during the polls as the smallest component of the Grand Alliance and this is also being seen as having gone against the NDA whose main plank in the Lok Sabha polls last year was attacking the “60-year misrule of Congress”.

9. Another factor that went against the BJP was that it did not project a chief ministerial candidate during the Bihar polls, although similar was the case in neighbouring Jharkhand as also in Haryana and Maharashtra where the party scored very well.

10. BJP leader and Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav said it was up to the top brass to analyse the results. However, his cabinet colleague Prakash Javadekar maintained that the fight remained close and claimed the pattern of voting was different this time with members of same family seeming to have voted for different political parties.