RJD passes litmus test in Araria

ARARIA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar failed in his first litmus test since severing ties with Mahagathbandhan and returning to the NDA fold when RJD retained the Araria Lok Sabha seat by defeating BJP in the byelection, the results of which were announced on Wednesday.
In fact, it was a major electoral contest for both CM Nitish Kumar and an acid test for RJD also which contested the polls in the absence of party supremo Lalu Prasad who is in jail in the fodder scam case.
Though the BJP managed to poll more votes in four out of the six assembly segments falling under the Araria Lok Sabha constituency, RJD’s massive lead in two constituencies—Araria and Jokihat--proved decisive.
The four segments, where BJP took the lead were Narpatganj, Raniganj, Forbesganj and Sikti. In Sikti, while the BJP- JD(U) combine secured 1,45,847 votes in 2015 assembly elections, in 2018, they secured only 87,070 votes, indicating that the alliance with JD (U) did not prove beneficial for BJP.
Though BJP polled more votes in Forbesganj, RJD’s vote percentage also considerably increased in this segment as it surged from around 60,000 votes in 2015 assembly elections to 74,498 this time.
RJD's Sarfaraz Alam, who had in the earlier rounds trailed behind BJP's Pradip Kumar Singh, won by over 60,000 votes. While RJD got total 5,0,9334 votes and BJP got 4,4,7346 votes.
Incidentally, Sarfaraz Alam secured 1,01,356 more votes than his father late Md Taslimuddin polled in 2014, while BJP candidate Pradip Kumar Singh secured 1,86,039 more votes than what he secured in 2014 but lost the seat.
According to Pradip Kumar Singh, “It was due to infighting that the party had to face an electoral defeat in Araria.”
Sources also said that the BJP MLA from Sikti Vijy Kumar Mandal did not support Pradip Kumar Singh. “Even the last ditch effort of polarisation card used by state BJP chief Nityanand Rai did not work although he made a frantic effort and succeeded in bringing all dissatisfied workers together in favour of Singh,” said party sources.
BJP leaders however said that the results of the bypolls have been largely driven by sympathy.
Incidentally, both BJP-led NDA and RJD-led Grand Alliance had put in all efforts to win the Araria Lok Sabha bypoll. All top state leaders from both sides campaigned hard in the constituency.
Political observers claimed that shifting of a portion of Dalit votes towards RJD was also one of the reasons for its victory.