What swung the vote in Bihar polls: Campaigning

It is also a caste-skewed state. Numerically small upper-caste groups, such as Rajputs and Bhumihars, are over-represented in government jobs and land ownership while scheduled castes dominate in marginal blue-collar jobs such as masonry.

This trifecta of issues should have created a political landscape yearning for change – especially in a state where an ageing chief minister is presiding over a 20-year-old administration and a 35-year-old challenger was promising a break from the past.

Yet, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday belied those expectations, as it smashed the Opposition’s traditional bastions on its way to a landslide victory. How did this happen?