Polling was deferred to October 28 in the remaining four constituencies of Khagaria, Purnea, Bhagalpur and Rajmahal due to floods.

BJP won 23 seats, while JD(U) pocketed 17 as the RJD-Congress alliance suffered major electoral reverses not even touching the halfway mark of 22 seats it won had in 1998.

RJD could get only seven seats and Congress had to be content with three -- Koderma, Aurangabad And begusarai.

According to poll observers, the socio-political engineering, worked out by BJP and JD(U) after coming together of the Janata Dal faction led by Sharad Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan and the Samata Party, provided a common platform against incumbency in the state.

The major change in the political arithmetic was wrought by the Dalits after their stalwart Paswan joined hands with BJP.

A dalit face facilitated revival of the latent anti-Laloo, anti-Yadav dalit votes and paved the way for RJD's poor show, poll observers said.Much political significance is being attached to the electoral setback of Laloo Yadav in Madhepura.

Victory of JD(U) chieftain Sharad Yadav there proved beyond doubt that RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav's grip over the Yadavs has loosened. Similar is the situation with Muslim votes, proven by Sharad Yadav's bigger margin in Alamnagar area of Madhepura and by the victory of BJP nominee Shahnawaz Hussain in Kishanganj, a constituency with the highest Muslim population outside Kashmir at 70 per cent.

Hussain defeated RJD nominee and former Union minister Taslimuddin by over 5,000 votes.

Using the Vananchal card to the hilt, BJP swept the tribal regions of south Bihar winning 11 of the 13 seats though it conceded the Koderma and Chatra seats to Congress and RJD respectively.

The BJP-JD(U) combine scored a resounding victory in North and central Bihar too winning 29 seats dealing a serious blow to the ruling party.

In 1998, BJP won 20 seats, while its electoral ally Samata Party bagged 10. RJD pocketed 17 and Congress emerged victorious in five.

"What will happen to a party (RJD) when its leader has himself lost... The lion has been bearded in his own den," opposition leader in Bihar Assembly Sushil Kumar Modi said reacting to Laloo Yadav's loss.

"The Muslim-Yadav combination has now been blown to smithereens... Laloo Yadav is now finished for ever," BJP state president Nand Kishore Yadav said, predicting an early split in RJD.

Former state Congress chief Sarfaraz Ahmed and party general secretary Vijay Shanker Mishra said the strong anti-incumbency factor might have led to RJD's electoral setback.

They called for immediate resignation of state Congress President Sadanand Singh owning moral responsibility for the party's defeat in Bihar. RJD is yet to officially react to the party's performance.

CPI, which contested nine seats, failed to open its account once again. JMM-S also came a cropper with none of its 15 candidates tasting success.