Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav sprang a surprise on Thursday by defeating his old rival Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) from Madhepura in Bihar.
The former Bihar chief minister thus avenged his 1999 defeat at the hands of Sharad Yadav, who is the food minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government.
Madhepura, a bastion of Bihar's Yadav caste, was a testing ground for the RJD chief this time.
It witnessed an extraordinary electoral battle as Sharad Yadav was seeking re-election from there and Laloo Yadav was leaving no stone unturned to wrest the seat.
Madhepura was being looked at as the mother of all battles in Bihar in the general election.
Both Laloo Yadav and Sharad Yadav were champions of the Mandal Commission report that had recommended reservations in government jobs for other backward classes. The report was accepted by then prime minister VP Singh in 1990.
Besides the Yadavs, the Dalits, Muslims, Banias and other backward castes also seem to have voted for Laloo this time unlike in 1999.
Last time Sharad Yadav had defeated Laloo Yadav by over 30,000 votes.