It would now be hugely difficult for the political satraps to negotiate away each others’ corrupt deals. The system will only improve if the guilty, whatever their station in life, are held to account and duly punished. That alone will restore the peoples’ faith in, and strengthen the credibility of, the country’s institutions.

The electoral process, under the watchful eye of the Election Commission, has achieved this credibility, in no small part due to the recently completed Bihar elections. The people have voted across community, caste or creed considerations. Development has triumphed and hopefully a fatal blow has been dealt to all forms of identity politics. This will force the political class to revise its calculus and change from a focus on divisive issues to a positive and constructive approach to achieving electoral success.

A winning verdict based on good governance and development had been achieved in the past in the case of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa where the incumbent party was victorious in the subsequent elections. But Bihar, with its social backwardness, and Biharis, who, according to some professors, were not interested in development but only in improving their perceived social status, were supposed to be different.

The fact that Bihar has voted en masse to reward good governance and development should now give us hope that India is on the cusp of deriving the long awaited democratic dividend. This implies electoral competition based on good governance and development performance.

This would in turn result in implementing policies that will improve the investment climate, reduce incidence of rent generation in the system and promote a proactive approach by the political class to wooing both indigenous and foreign investors. This would set up a virtuous cycle that could see Bihar permanently shed its image of being a bimaru state. As Mr Nitish Kumar put it succinctly, the election was about self esteem.

It would be premature to expect the democratic dividend to be generated until the Bihar phenomenon is repeated in other states, especially in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (UP), which are the next in line for elections. The two states have suffered from mal-governance for as long as three decades and now hopelessness has taken root. But there is clear, if anecdotal evidence that things are beginning to change.

Both Muslims and Hindus are strongly signalling that they want to go on with the business of improving their lives and not let legacy issues hijack their future. This urge to build a future for themselves, and future generations, will not be satisfied by false rhetoric and obtuse promises. The delivery of scheduled plans will henceforth be a crucial determinant of success.  Political parties preparing for the forthcoming electoral fray in these two states would do well to bear this mind.

Much has been written already about the challenges facing the winning coalition in Bihar. These include the usual but critically important issues of roads, connectivity, education, health and energy. In addition to these, two key challenges stand out. First, in Bihar and elsewhere it will be suicidal to under estimate the importance of governance reforms. People are fed up and exhausted from the corruption that is now threatening to become systemic. Even industry is now wary because corruption and rent seeking is threatening its competitiveness in both foreign and domestic markets.

Second, it is time that states like Bihar, Punjab, West Bengal and UP pay far more attention to, and push the envelope on, regional cooperation with countries across the border. It is clear that Bihar will be interested in building hydroelectric and irrigation control systems in cooperation with Nepal. Kathmandu will also feel far less threatened and have greater empathy in dealings with Patna than in dealings with Delhi.

Mr Nitish Kumar, bolstered by his re-election, can demand more space and flexibility from Delhi. The capital is already being already accused of negative bias against an opposition ruled Bihar, and will be seen in a rather poor light if it does not allow Bihar to take the lead in building dams in cooperation with its northern neighbour.

The clearest message from the Bihar elections is undoubtedly the importance of good governance. For all kinds of reasons, including, of course, the voters’ preferences, this message will resonate in the Indian political space more loudly and widely in the days to come.

Rajiv Kumar is the Director General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

This piece was first published here in The Hindu Business Line.