BJP Parliamentary Board to meet after Bihar drubbing
The national party's poor showing in the state caused the Sensex to fall by 600 points.
After facing a major defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Board is expected to meet at 4 pm on Monday to assess their losses. The party’s highest decision-making body is likely to analyse the results and look into corrective measures that can be taken. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to be at the meeting. NDTV reported that there might even be a cabinet reshuffle after the winter session of Parliament ends, a consequence of the party's loss. Following the results in Bihar, BJP president Amit Shah met with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday, ostensibly to discuss the election's verdict.
The BJP’s debacle in Bihar also caused the Sensex to open at a loss of more than 600 points on Monday. The state election results might have caused major companies to be concerned that the parties opposing the BJP might join hands to block major economic reforms, such as the Goods and Service Tax Bill.
Sunday's results showed several surprising results. While Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Grand Alliance made big gains in the state, the None Of The Above option for voters was used widely during polls, the highest in the state till date. Around 2.5% more voters – nearly 9 lakh people – opted for NOTA in the polls this time, while only around 5.8 lakh voters chose NOTA in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The NOTA option received more hits than some parties like the Samajwadi Party and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.