When votes are counted for a new government in the poor and populous northern state of Bihar on Sunday, the reverberations will be felt in Delhi and beyond. With about 100 million people, Bihar is the third-biggest prize in Indian politics, behind Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Over the past month, it has witnessed a campaign slugfest between 65-year-old Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 64-year-old incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
A win for Mr. Modi’s right-of-center Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies would consolidate the prime minister’s position as the dominant force in Indian politics. It would open a pathway to eventual control of the indirectly elected upper house of Parliament and give the government more room to pursue stalled economic reforms.
A defeat would reset national politics. For the first time in three years, Mr. Modi’s seemingly unstoppable electoral juggernaut would be halted. It would suggest that the BJP’s drubbing in February, in Delhi’s relatively minor but highly visible state election, was no aberration. This would boost the morale of the prime minister’s critics and perhaps force Mr. Modi to loosen his grip on both government and party.
A full-text version of this article may be found in The Wall Street Journal.
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