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BJP power to reckon with in Laloo land

Anant Gaundalkar

Laloo Prasad Yadav's stranglehold over Bihar shows signs of loosening.

The Janata Dal won no more than 22 of the 54 seats, drawing a blank in the Chhotanagpur belt, during the 1996 general election. The Bharatiya Janata Party swept this region and made handsome gains even in north Bihar to win 18 seats. The BJP's ally, the Samata Party, won six seats.

In the last three elections, contested over a span of eight years, the Congress could muster a combined tally of only seven out of 162 seats. On the other hand, the Janata Dal, although now on a decline, captured 86 seats. During the same period the BJP claimed 31 constituencies.

Details of Lok Sabha results in Bihar:

Party	1952	1957	1962	1967	1971	1977	1980	1984	1989	1991	1996
Congress	45	41	39	34	39	-	30	48	4	1	2
JMM	3	6	3	-	1	-	1	-	3	7	1
IPF	3	-	1	7	2	-	-	-	1	-	-
PSP	-	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
JD	-	-	7	-	-	-	-	-	32	32	32
CPI	-	-	1	5	5	-	4	2	4	8	3
BJP	-	-	-	1	2	52	-	-	8	5	18
MC	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	1	-	-
Cong-J	-	-	-	-	3	-	4	1	-	-	-
SJP	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	1	-	-	-
LD	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	1	-	-	-
CPI-M	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-
Others	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
IND	1	1	-	4	1	1	2	1	-	-	1
SP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
Total seats	55	53	53	53	53	54	54	54	54	54	54

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