The opposition alliance in the eastern state of Bihar looks set to win a crucial election in a blow to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party was a key partner in the ruling coalition.
The state will count votes from the three-stage election on Tuesday and most exit polls have shown citizens rejecting the ruling coalition in favor of a new opposition alliance led by a charismatic 31-year-old politician.
Bihar is India’s poorest state, but with a population larger than any nation in the European Union it sends 40 lawmakers to federal parliament, giving it outsize political importance. Losing the state amid soaring unemployment and an economy experiencing the sharpest dive in decades will be a setback for Modi, who invested a lot of political capital in the campaign.
The state is currently…
