Will the ruling Janata Dal (United) manage to pull off a win this time as well? Or the Rashtriya Janata Dal with Tejashwi Yadav, the political heir of Lalu Yadav, manage to bag votes? Will the mahagathbandhan win in the state or the BJP-JDU combine emerge victorious? From coalition to caste, Prannoy Roy and his team analyse crucial questions on The Countdown tonight and bring you exclusive interviews with Tejashwi Yadav, BJP rebel-turned-Congress's star recruit Shatrughan Sinha, and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Modi.
Here are the highlights of today's episode of 'The Countdown':BJP-JD(U) alliance has a stronger base in Bihar 
Nitish Kumar's JD(U) smallest but could be decisive factor in Bihar
BJP-JD(U) - opposites, but good electoral math
BJP-JD(U) combo can resist large negative swing in votes, shows Prannoy Roy's analysis
Sushil Modi speaks to NDTV
"Nitish Kumar is a natural ally because he is an honest leader and a visionary in governance," says BJP's Sushil Modi 
Decoding the caste factor in Bihar
"You cannot force anybody": BJP's Sushil Modi on standing up for Vande Mataram
Prannoy Roy: Sir you say, you say Nitish is your natural ally.
Sushil Modi: Yes.
Prannoy Roy: But he has different, totally different views from you, totally different ideology, how can you say natural, is it just arithmetic?
Sushil Modi: No in governance, you do not require any ideology. What is our ideology in building roads? In providing electricity?
Prannoy Roy: But in dividing the society along caste lines, along religious lines, that is not good.
Sushil Modi: No, in Bihar...Today, those from Congress are doing that. Sidhu came to Bihar and...
Prannoy Roy: I am not saying but he has different ideology, how is it natural ally?
Sushil Modi: No so... Natural because in his governance, he is honest, he is a visionary and he is a hard working guy.
Prannoy Roy: He doesn't stand up when there's Vande Mataram.
Sushil Modi: Even I haven't stood up many times.
Prannoy Roy: You don't? Why? Why?
Sushil Modi: I am not talking about belief.
Prannoy Roy: But this is about belief.
Sushil Modi: Is Vande Mataram played in Parliament or not?
Prannoy Roy: Yes, it is.
Sushil Modi: Vande Mataram is played on the concluding day of Parliament session. What does MIM do at that time? What does Nitish do at that time?
Prannoy Roy: Up to you... but I am saying why don't you stand up?
Sushil Modi: A lot of the times, we are not able to stand up.
Prannoy Roy: Why? Because you are a milder man. You have no hatred in you.
Sushil Modi: No. Not because of anything else.
Prannoy Roy: But hatred is an issue in this election.
Sushil Modi: What's the harm in raising Vande Mataram?
Prannoy Roy: I am just saying hatred in this election.
Sushil Modi: No, If they don't stand, is it an issue?
NDTV Reporter: But do you think it should be thrust? Do you think it should be thrust on anyone?
Prannoy Roy: So nobody... So nobody needn't stand up?
Sushil Modi: Only NDTV made it an issue. In Bihar, it is not an issue, nobody knows also.
NDTV Reporter: But do you think it should be thrust upon anyone?
Sushil Modi: No, nobody is thrusting anything.
Prannoy Roy: Nobody should be thrust.
In a first, turnout of women was as high as that of men across India
Women voter turnout has seen a sharp rise in Bihar over the years
Despite a sharp increase in women voters, the number of women elected to Lok Sabha remains very low
Number of women candidates in parties lower than men despite better chances of winning
Sushil Modi on prohibition in BiharPrannoy Roy: How many decades will you have prohibition carrying on?
Sushil Modi: Till I am alive and Nitish Kumar is alive, there will be prohibition and those who don't want to vote, we don't care about the vote of those people...
Prannoy Roy: You don't.
Sushil Modi: ...who are against prohibition. And if anybody dares to remove prohibition in Bihar, he'll be wiped out from the politics of Bihar.
Prannoy Roy: That's what the rest of the world has said and the prohibition is...
Sushil Modi: I don't know about the rest of world, but I know Bihar because the Bihari society because it is not like Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, the southern states. Bihar was never a state in which drinking and other things were not there in Bihar and still if anybody coming and taking liquor in family, it was never entertaining, apart from some elite and some others.
Prannoy Roy: Like you said - don't force a person to stand up. Why do you force him not to drink, let him decide in this individually. Thoda individual. These are adults.
Sushil Modi: I am also of the opinion that smoking should be banned.
Prannoy Roy: It should be banned?
Sushil Modi: This is what I feel, whether or not I am able to implement it.
Prannoy Roy: Ban on smoking.
Sushil Modi: Smoking should be banned because it is injurious to health and so it was affecting poor people more, not the elite and the big people because they know how much to drink and how much not to drink. But it was the poor people, they were consuming liquor like anything, there was domestic violence, they were beating their wives, their children and wasting their money on liquor.
"Not just liquor, I am also of the opinion that smoking should be banned too": Sushil Modi
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi on liquor ban in the state 
Only 5% Muslims elected to Lok Sabha between 2002-2019, shows Prannoy Roy's analysis
Vast age difference between voters and lawmakers in India 
Tejashwi Yadav speaks to NDTV
RJD's Tejashwi Yadav on the combined opposition and their very different ideologies 
"Politics of destruction not development in country", says RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav
Tejashwi Yadav on Mahagathbandhan, reservation
"The people in Nalanda -- the way reservation is ending... that has affected Nitish Kumar's credibility," he told NDTV. "In terms of governance, he used to ask for votes relying on his own face, but look at him now. Nitish Kumar is asking for votes in the name of Pulwama, in the name of the Indian Army. He is asking for votes in the name of Modi, someone he used to hate. So, where did that beautiful face go?" Tejashwi Yadav says.
Questions about properties in the name of Tejashwi Yadav were what ended the mahagathbandhan alliance, formed ahead of the 2015 elections to keep the BJP out of power.
"I feel if the farmers in our country become strong, when their incomes double, that is also a manifestation of nationalism. Removing poverty, in a way, is a nationalistic act. If the youth get employed, they will progress and that will strengthen our nation. That is also nationalism, in a way," he told NDTV.
About who would be the next Prime Minister if the opposition comes to power, Tejashwi Yadav said, "People usually ask, 'who will be the groom?' We say, 'Where is the bride, tell us that first'. The groom is ready, the festivities are ready, tell us who the bride is".
Shatrughan Sinha speaks to NDTV
Shatrughan Sinha on quitting BJP, PM Modi
Shatrughan Sinha, who quit the BJP under bitter circumstances and joined the Congress last month, has one word for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah -- "
Khamosh (silence)". That doesn't sum up what he really wants to say to PM Modi. "It's time for PM Modi to pick up his jholi and leave," the actor-turned-politician told NDTV's Prannoy Roy, referring to an old comment by the Prime Minister.
Asked what he would like to say to PM Modi and Amit Shah, if they were to walk up to him right now, he said: "I will say
khamosh, you have to answer questions. Be answerable and accountable to people. You cannot just follow the 'shoot and scoot' policy and run away. Come here and face the people".
"They are anyway facing the people now. Everywhere they are facing the rap. People have gone to the opposition in a big way. The writing on the wall is clear. Our honorable PM will no longer be the Prime Minister on the 23rd," Mr Sinha says.
"Mamata Banerjee is our friend and the iron lady has rightly said that his expiry date is over. Now I only wish him well, wherever he wants to go. He used to say I will pick up my
jholi and walk away. Now it's time for him to pick up his
jholi and go away."
"All constitutional institutions are working like BJP cell": Tejashwi Yadav
Shatrughan Sinha on the difference between former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and PM Modi
"Time for PM Modi to pack his bags and leave, like he said": Congress' Shatrughan Sinha
4 seats in Bihar that have mostly voted the winner
"It is good that 'Paltu Chacha' went away": Tejashwi Yadav on Nitish Kumar 
"In major states, like UP, the gathbandhan is very strong, so is in Bihar": Tejashwi Yadav
"It is not good the way Modi ji has hijacked national institutions": Tejashwi Yadav
"I went to meet him (Lalu Yadav) but the regional government did not allow it: Tejashwi Yadav
"I have taken the right decision. I have gone into the right, better direction": Shatrughan Sinha
"Prime Minister has no issues to talk about, hence, he brings up radar," says Tejashwi Yadav
