Bihar bypolls: Setback for Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD back in reckoning

PATNA: In a setback to the ruling-NDA in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar-led alliance managed to win only one of the five assembly bypolls seen as “litmus test” ahead of the state elections next year. While RJD signalled it’s back in business winning two seats, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) marked its debut in the state winning the Kishanganj assembly seat.
JD(U) seems to be the worst-hit losing three of the four seats it contested, while ally BJP lost the lone seat it contested.
The saving grace for NDA was JD(U)’s Lakshmikant Mandal winning the Nathnagar assembly seat in Bhagalpur and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s nephew Prince Raj winning the Samastipur Lok Sabha bypoll.
The lone parliamentary bypoll was necessitated after the demise of Prince’s father and former MP Ramchandra Paswan. Prince defeated his nearest rival Ashok Kumar of Congress by over 1 lakh votes while Mandal defeated Rubiya Khatun of RJD in a close contest to win the Nathnagar assembly seat by a slim margin of 5,131 votes.
Thursday’s results came as a much-needed boost for the Lalu Prasad-led RJD, signalling its revival ahead of the next year’s assembly polls. After the Lok Sabha polls drubbing, RJD’s victory in two assembly seats will come as a big boost to the party as both seats were won by JD (U) in the last assembly elections.
In Daraundha, Independent candidate Karnjeet Singh alias Vyas Singh won defeating don- turned- politician Ajay Singh, who was fielded by JD(U) after his wife Kavita Singh, the sitting MLA, got elected from Siwan parliamentary constituency earlier this year.
The other two assembly segments lost by JD (U) are Belhar in Banka district and Simri Bakhtiyarpur in Saharsa district. The bypolls to both seats were necessitated after JD (U) MLAs from both seats were elected to the Lok Sabha.
In the bypolls, JD (U) fielded Laldhari Yadav in Belhar, who is the brother of former MLA and current Banka MP Girdhari Yadav. Laldhari lost to RJD’s Ramdeo Yadav by a margin of 19,231 votes.
The bypolls to Simri Bakhtiyapur seat was necessitated after former JD (U) MLA Dinesh Chandra Yadav was elected from Madhepura parliamentary constituency. JD (U) fielded Arun Kumar in the bypolls, who lost to RJD’s Zafar Alam by close to over 15,500 votes.
BJP on the other hand, lost the only assembly segment where it fielded its candidate, which was Kishanganj. This Muslim-dominated seat was won by Owaisi’s AIMIM.
Lalu’s RJD is understandably jubilant. “I am thankful to the voters for our exemplary victory. I had raised issues related to common man during the electioneering and I am happy that people accepted it and gave their verdict accordingly. The results have proved the fact that Bihar will not accept conventional thoughts in 2020; it will opt for progressive ideologies rather than politics of caste and religion,” Lalu’s younger son and leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said.
Congress on the other hand, accepted that it lost Muslim- dominated Kishanganj seat owing faulty ticket distribution. “There was some discontentment among our workers over giving ticket for bypolls to the Kishanganj assembly seat to the family member of present MP of the parliamentary constituency,” Congress legislator party leader Sadanand Singh said.
JD (U) functionaries on the other hand said they will review the results and take necessary steps ahead of upcoming assembly elections. “We will review the result and identify the shortcomings. We will take corrective steps and our roadmap for 2020 assembly elections will be made accordingly,” JD (U) spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said.