INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) is likely to make gains in Bihar assembly elections.
The fight in Bihar is down to two coalitions led by regional rivals - one of them is the incumbent Janata Dal (United) or JD-U, the BJP's partner.
The alliance, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has been in power for 15 years.
It's now up against another regional heavyweight, the Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD, which lost power in 2005.
Early trends kept RJD's Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan ahead, but as counting proceeded, it lost a few of its earlier gains and the NDA comfortably reached the majority mark. In the evening, the Mahagathbandhan narrowed the gap.
According to reports, of the 41.1 million votes 34 million votes were counted till 8pm (IST).
The ruling NDA was leading in 122 seats and the opposition alliance in 114 seats, as per latest reports. The BJP was leading in 72 seats, the JDU in 42. The RJD was ahead in 77 seats, the Congress in 19 and the CPI-ML in 11 seats.
Describing the conditions that led to the delay, the Election Commission said they have halved the number of counting tables from 14 to seven. The number of postal ballots have increased and so have the number of rounds.
According to Election Commission officials results will come late night on Tuesday.
A few Congress leaders blamed the NDA for EVM hacking while the RJD accused the Nitish Kumar government of influencing district magistrates to not let Mahagathbandhan's count go beyond 110.
BJP also made gains in by-elections held in various states including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
