PATNA, India: The reformist chief minister of Bihar, India's poorest state, swept back to power after trouncing his rivals in polls on Wednesday, including the scandal-hit national ruling party. With a population of 83 million, Bihar has for decades been a developmental backwater, lagging behind the rest of India and earning a reputation as the country's most lawless region. But incumbent Nitish Kumar has been credited with tackling crime and notching up an impressive annual economic growth rate - albeit off a low base - of 11 percent during his first five years in office. His Janata Dal (United) party, in coalition with India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, has won 199 out of 235 seats declared so far in Bihar's 243-seat state assembly, poll officials said in the capital Patna. “It's a vote for development,” Kumar said in his acceptance speech. “It's clear that Bihar's people want Bihar to be on the road to success.” He said increased turnout among women was a sign of progress, adding “I hope we can move Bihar ahead, the work has started, but there's a lot left to do.” India's ruling Congress party, mired in a corruption scandal in New Delhi, had been expected to receive a drubbing despite campaigning by youth leader and presumed prime-minister-in-waiting, Rahul Gandhi. “The results in Bihar elections indicate that our party has to start from scratch,” Congress president Sonia Gandhi was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying. The Congress party is struggling to contain the fallout from what could be one of India's biggest ever corruption cases in which telecom licences were allegedly sold to favoured companies at a fraction of their value. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is accused by critics of failing to prevent the 40-billion-dollar scam allegedly perpetrated by former telecom minister A. Raja, who has resigned and vowed to clear his name. Raja belongs to a small regional political party required by the Congress for its national coalition government. Analysts say the Congress's dismal showing in Bihar will also be blamed on its closeness to the state' Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJF) party of regional strongman Laloo Prasad Yadav, a former chief minister in 1990 and 1995. Yadav has been accused of rampant corruption and sponsoring caste-based politics in Bihar. Kumar has vowed to overhaul the state's woeful transport infrastructure, health and education systems, and transform Bihar into a “developed state” by 2015. – Agence France
