When the elections were announced, the UPA wasexpected to win all three states, going by the results of the general electionslast year. As the election process drew to a close, the BJP, which began as theunderdog, has come close being within striking distance of returning to power inalliance with the JD-U in Jharkhand – a state in which its government wasextremely unpopular. Meanwhile, in Bihar, the BJP-JD-U alliance can certainlytake credit for reducing the RJD tothe number two slot, even if any kind of government formation in the state willtake a while with predictions of a spell of President’s Rule, with what lookslike an unmanageably fractured verdict.