Jolt to Nitish leaded NDA in Bihar by-elections

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Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party alliance headed by Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan has bagged eight seats in by-elections for 18 assembly seats held recently in Bihar, giving a jolt to the Nitish Kumar lead NDA government.

CJ: Md Mudassir Alam

Fri, Sep 18, 2009 10:28:36 IST

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Bihar News :

IN A major setback to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the opposition alliance of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) bagged eight seats in by-elections for 18 assembly seats held recently in Bihar. The ruling Janata Dal-(United)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance won just five seats. JD (U) won Bagha, Dohraiya and Triveniganj seats, while its ally BJP won Begusarai and Chainpur seats.

Lalu Prasad headed RJD won elections from Aurai, Bochaha, Munger, Ramgarh and Phulwarisharief seats, while Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP occupied Araria, Bodh Gaya and Warisnagar seats. In a surprising outcome RJD’s Uday Manjhi defeated JD (U) candidate Shyam Rajak in Phulwarisharief constituency of Patna. Just two months back, Shyam Rajak left RJD and joined JD (U). Similarly, former minister Ramai Ram who joined the JD (U) after deserting the Congress lost the Bochaha seat.

Contesting independently after soaring ties with the former allies RJD and LJP, the Congress won the Chenari and Simribakhtiarpur seats. Earlier, Congress party turned down the alliance offer by RJD.

Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party take away the Nautan constituency from the JD (U), while independent candidate Shanti Sharma emerged victorious from the Ghosi constituency. Interestingly Shanti Sharma is the wife of JD (U) MP from Jehanabad Jagdish Sharma and the latter backed her wife against the official party candidate.

The by-elections for 18 seats were held in two phases in Bihar. In the first phase on September 10, polls were conducted in seven constituencies, while the rest went to polls on September 15. The counting of votes started on Thursday (September 17), and the result were declared by the afternoon.

The by-elections were held to fill up the seats that have been vacated by sitting legislators who contested the Lok Sabha polls this May. Meanwhile, the people’s verdict is seen as a mini-referendum for the Nitish Kumar government ahead of state assembly polls that is scheduled next year.

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