The ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar on Tuesday retained both the assembly seats where bypolls were held on October 30, nearly doubling its victory margin in Kusheshwar Asthan and winning Tarapur seat by a reduced margin as compared to 2020 state polls.
The bypolls, necessitated by the death of sitting MLAs, had turned into a battle of prestige, with an ailing Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad campaigning in an election after a gap of six years.
With Tuesday’s win, JD (U) now has 45 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar assembly. The ruling National Democratic Alliance, led by chief minister Nitish Kumar, now has the strength of 127 (BJP-74, JD(U)-45; HAM-S and VIP four each). Besides, it also has the support of one independent MLA, who is a minister.
The opposition alliance has 110 members in the assembly — RJD (75), Congress (19) CPI-ML (12) and CPI and CPM two each. The remaining five are with AIMIM.
In Kusheshwar Asthan, a constituency reserved for scheduled castes, JD(U)’s Aman Bhushan Hazari defeated his nearest rival Ganesh Bharti of RJD by 12,695 votes. Hazari polled 59,887 votes while Bharti managed to garner 47,192 votes.
In 2020, the seat was won by Hazari’s father Shashi Bhushan Hazari, who passed away following an ailment in July this year.
{{/usCountry}}In 2020, the seat was won by Hazari’s father Shashi Bhushan Hazari, who passed away following an ailment in July this year.
{{/usCountry}}Congress, which had contested the seat in 2020 as part of RJD-led opposition alliance but lost by around 7,000 votes, had this time fielded Atirek Kumar after deciding to contest both seats following a fallout with ally RJD. Atirek, whose father Ashok Kumar had won the seat for the party multiples times in the past. finished fourth, with 5,603 votes, less than Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas) candidate Anju Devi, who secured third place with 5,623 votes.
Congress’s performance in Kusheshwar Asthan is contrary to the strong buzz it managed to create in its campaign in which it had fielded its new catch Kanhaiya Kumar, besides a host of senior leaders.
In Tarapur, JD(U) candidate Rajeev Kumar Singh defeated Arun Kumar of RJD in a close contest, by a margin of 3,821 votes. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of sitting MLA Mewalal Chowdhary, who had to resign a day after becoming a minister following allegations of corruption levelled by the Opposition. Here too, Congress put a dismal performance.
In his first reaction after the results were declared, RJD’s heir apparent and leader of opposition in assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, said, “We accept the people’s verdict. The sympathy factor worked in both the places. We gave a good fight in both the places and went to people with issues.”
Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the de facto leader of JD(U), said, “In democracy, people are the judge and they have given their verdict. I thank them.”