Bihar MLC polls: NDA close to win 4 out of 8 seats

Election results for 6 out of 8 seats have been declared in the Bihar Legislative Council polls. The election was held for eight seats in Bihar, comprising four seats each from the Graduate and Teachers’ constituencies.

All seating MLCs of the Teachers constituency lost the election, whereas Janata Dal (United) candidate Neeraj Kumar retained his Patna Graduate Constituency seat which remained the topic of hot discussion due to the boycott of Mokama MLA Anant Singh who was recently expelled from JD(U) for campaigning against party’s official candidate.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost its Patna Teachers Constituency seat after 30 years as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Sanjeev Kumar defeated BJP candidate Nawal Kishore Yadav by 1057 votes. Sanjeev Kumar’s elder brother Rajeev Kumar is also an MLC representing Congress party.

Congress party did not win any seats and even lost its sitting seat in this election. Sitting MLC Madan Mohan Jha of the Congress party lost the Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency to Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party (JSP).

Similarly, Saran Teachers constituency, which was represented by Independent Aafaq Ahmad lost to rebel BJP leader and independent candidate Rahul Raj. JD(U)’s Anand Pushkar was the official candidate of National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

However, after winning the election, Mr. Raj said that had the party given him a ticket, it would have been better. He added that he has a lot of respect for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the Tirhut Teachers constituency, BJP candidate Narendra Kumar Singh defeated sitting MLC Sanjay Kumar Singh of Communist Party of India (CPI).

Out of the four seats in the Teachers’ constituency, the NDA fielded candidates for two seats each from the JD(U) and the BJP and the alliance managed to win only one seat. The JD(U) failed to open its account.

Victory of JSP in Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency in Mithila region will certainly pose a significant challenge for JD(U) national working president Sanjay Jha, who hails from the same region.

Following his fourth consecutive victory from the Patna Graduate constituency, Neeraj Kumar of JD(U) met with the party’s National President and former Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, at his official residence to seek his blessings.

Nitish Kumar congratulated him on the victory and extended his best wishes, urging him to continue his public service in line with the core party’s principle of nyay ke saath vikas (development with justice) and to always live up to the trust placed in him by the public.

“I express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone for my fourth consecutive win. I extend my sincere thanks to national president, Nitish Kumar ji, Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary ji and Nishant Kumar ji and all the leaders of the NDA for this unprecedented support. This victory is collective trust, dedication, and joint efforts,” Neeraj Kumar said.

Reacting to the victory, Mokama MLA Anant Singh said, ‘We didn’t bring votes from a shop and weigh them out. The public is like God. If they give votes, a candidate wins; if they don’t, the candidate loses.”

N.K. Yadav of BJP secured victory in Kosi Graduate constituency by defeating Nitish Kumar of RJD with the vote difference of more than 9000. JSP candidate Rajnish Ranjan came third.

In the Darbhanga Graduate constituency, BJP candidate Sarvesh Kumar is leading by 1,291 votes against the rival candidate Anil Jha of RJD, whereas in the Tirhut Graduate constituency, Independent candidate Bansidhar Brajwasi is leading by 5705 votes against JD(U) candidate Abhishek Jha.

Reports from the counting centre suggest that Sarvesh and Bansidhar will continue to lead until the counting ends. Out of eight seats, NDA is all set to win four seats whereas two by independent and one each by JSP and RJD candidate.