A government finally forms
What happened
Bihar's assembly elected a new governing coalition, one with a clear working majority.
The Janata Dal (United) won the most seats of any single party, 88 of 243.
Together with its coalition partners, that side held 143 seats — comfortably past the 122-seat majority mark.
Its nearest single-party rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party, finished with 55 seats.
What changed
Power in Bihar changed hands, with a different party finishing on top from the one that had led earlier that year.
The JD(U) grew to 88 seats, a gain of 33 over its result earlier that year.
That was enough, together with its partners, to finally produce a working majority.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that election stand out.
The closest race: Sakra, Bihar was decided by just 72 votes — the narrowest margin, how far ahead the winner finished over whoever came second, of any seat that year.
At the other extreme, Patna West, Bihar was won by a margin of 50.6% of the vote.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — was highest in Chainpur, Bihar, at 59.0%, and lowest in Gaya Town, Bihar, at 31.9%.
The backdrop
This election followed a period when Bihar's assembly did not manage to form a working government.
After the February 2005 election left Bihar's 243-seat assembly hung, a fresh election was held in October-November 2005. The Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance won 143 seats, ending fifteen years of Janata Dal/Rashtriya Janata Dal-led government under Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi. Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Chief Minister on 24 November 2005.