PATNA: With Bihar assembly election nearly less than a year away, the opposition INDIA bloc suffered a major jolt when the ruling NDA won all four assembly seats in the by-elections held on November 13. The results of the by-elections in Belaganj, Imamganj, Tarari and Ramgarh seats were announced on Saturday. NDA maintained its winning streak in Bihar after bagging 30 out of 40 seats in the last Lok Sabha election. The alliance’s latest victory also saw Bihar BJP once again reposing faith in the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar as state party president and minister Dileep Jaiswal, deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary, senior BJP leader and health minister Mangal Pandey visited the official residence of CM to exchange pleasantries over the victory of the alliance’s candidates in the by-elections. The by-elections were held in Tarari, Belaganj, Imamganj and Ramgarh seats after the sitting MLAs – Sudama Prasad- CPI-ML, Surendra Yadav –RJD, Jitan Ram Manjhi- HAM and Sudhakar Singh – RJD were elected to Lok Sabha in the last polls. While the BJP won Ramgarh and Tarari seats, Belaganj and Imamganj were won by JDU and Hindustani Awam Morcha, respectively. The maiden entry of former poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party into electoral politics has fallen short of his tall claims. Kishor had fielded his candidates on all four seats, as he had to change his candidates on two seats at the last moment due to various reasons. While Jan Suraaj Party candidates were in the third position in Tarari, Belaganj and Imamganj, it was in the fourth position in Ramgarh. The best performer among Jan Suraaj Party candidates was Jitendra Paswan from Imamganj, who got 37,103 votes and slipped to the third position.The party’s candidate from Belaganj Mohammad Amjad got 17,285 votes. In Ramgarh, Jan Suraaj’s Sushil Kumar Singh had to satisfy with only 6,513 votes as he was in the fourth position. In Tarari, Kishor had fielded Kiran Singh, but she came third, with 5,592 votes. From Tarari seat, muscleman Sunil Pandey’s son and BJP candidate Vishal Prashant emerged victorious by defeating CPI (ML) candidate Raju Yadav. Similarly, Manjhi’s daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi won the Imamganj seat by defeating RJD’s Roshan Manjhi. JD (U) candidate Manorama Devi emerged victorious from Belaganj seat by defeating RJD candidate Vishwanath Singh (son of RJD MP Surendra Yadav). On the other hand, BJP candidate Ashok Kumar Singh won from Ramgarh seat by defeating BSP candidate Satish Singh. RJD’s Ajit Singh was in the third position for this seat. Deepa Manjhi’s husband, Santosh Suman, is the president of HAM and also a minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet. RJD’s defeat in the Belaganj seat is significant as it was considered to be the traditional bastion of Lalu Prasad’s party. RJD sitting MLA Surendra Yadav has been holding the seat for more than three decades. Surendra Yadav was elected as MP from the Jehanabad Lok Sabha seat in a parliamentary election held in May-June this year. Similarly, victory of muscleman Sunil Pandey’s son Vishal Prashant from the Tarari seat has established that muscle power still holds sway in elections. Election of sitting MLAs as members of parliament necessitated byelection on the four assembly seats in South and Central Bihar.
Source link
