Patna, Oct 28 Biennial polls to eight constituencies of the Bihar Legislative Council witnessed major upsets, with five sitting MLCs, including one each from the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress, losing their seats, even as fledgling Jan Suraaj Party scored its maiden victory in the Upper House.
Of the eight seats, which went to polls on October 23 and for which counting had been underway since Tuesday, three went to the BJP, and two were bagged by Independents while RJD, the main party in opposition, Jan Suraaj Party and NDA partner JD(U) got one each.
Fifth-term BJP MLC Nawal Kishor Yadav failed to retain Patna Teachers’ constituency, conceding the seat to Sanjeev Kumar of the RJD.
The ruling party’s strength in the legislative council, however, remains intact with Narendra Prasad Singh wresting Tirhut Teachers’ seat from Sanjay Kumar Singh of the CPI, who had the support of the entire INDIA bloc.
Sanjeev Kumar, a former MLA from Parbatta who failed to retain the seat in last year’s assembly polls when he contested on an RJD ticket after quitting the JD(U), held his own in the legislative council seat despite fears of a split in INDIA bloc votes, thanks to Sanjay Yadav of the Congress also entering the fray.
Two BJP MLCs, Sarvesh Kumar and N K Yadav, retained Darbhanga Graduates’ and Kosi Graduates’ seats, respectively.
Notably, Darbhanga Graduates’ seat witnessed messy infighting among INDIA bloc partners as votes of the opposition coalition got split among Anil Jha of RJD, Rajni Kant Pathak of Congress and Sandeep Chaudhary of the CPI(ML) Liberation.
BJP ally JD(U), which had contested the remaining four seats on behalf of the NDA, registered its sole victory in Patna Graduates’ seat, which was retained for the fourth consecutive term by Neeraj Kumar, who surmounted a revolt by detractor Anant Kumar Singh.
Singh, the MLA from Mokama, had vowed to defeat Kumar and canvassed for Anuj Singh of Jan Suraaj Party, only to face expulsion from the JD(U) a day after the polls.
Former state Congress president Madan Mohan Jha failed to score a hat-trick in Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency, as the seat went to BJP turncoat Suresh Prasad Rai, this time contesting on the ticket of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party.
Rai, who had contested the seat in 2020 on a BJP ticket, switched sides a few months ago. His victory was aided by a split in the INDIA bloc’s votes in the constituency where CPI(M)’s Ramdev Rai is understood to have cut into the Congress’s votes and JD(U)’s Ghanshyam Rai, a low-key candidate, failed to enthuse voters, finishing a distant fourth.
The Congress, which had contested five seats, drew a blank and is now left with just one member, Rajeev Kumar from local bodies (Begusarai), in the 75-strong Bihar Vidhan Parishad.
Interestingly, Rajeev Kumar, who had got elected in 2022, is the elder brother of Sanjeev Kumar, the RJD’s giant-killer in the Patna Teachers’ constituency.
The siblings, born to the late Ramanand Prasad Singh, a former minister and a JD(U) stalwart of his time, are said to be the first brother duo ever to be members of the Bihar Legislative Council at the same time.
Another BJP turncoat, Rahul Raj, who contested the Saran Teachers’ seat as an Independent, inflicted a humiliating defeat on sitting MLC Afaq Ahmed.
Ahmed had won the seat in 2021 with the support of Kishor, who was then several months away from floating a party. This time, contesting as the Jan Suraaj Party’s official candidate, Afaq was expecting an easier contest since Anand Pushkar of JD(U) and Ram Pukar Sinha of Rashtriya Lok Morcha were causing a split in NDA votes.
Another Independent candidate to register a victory was Bansi Dhar Brajwasi, who retained Tirhut Graduates’ constituency that he wrested from the JD(U) two years ago, in a bypoll that had been necessitated by legislative council Chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur getting elected to the Lok Sabha from Sitamarhi.
Meanwhile, five people were detained by the police following a scuffle between supporters of RJD and BJP candidates at the counting centre of the Darbhanga Graduates’ seat on Wednesday. The situation was immediately brought under control.
The Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Kosi Graduates’ constituencies had a total of 4.92 lakh eligible electors, while the Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Saran Teachers’ seats had 40,253 voters.
Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary congratulated the winning candidates, and expressed confidence that they would work towards improving the quality of education.
“This victory is a symbol of voters’ trust and public support towards the NDA,” he said.
Reacting to the poll results, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav told reporters, “After nearly two-and-a-half decades, our party has registered victory in these elections.”
“In the MLC polls, the NDA’s conspiracy to add fake votes was also exposed. The EC should maintain transparency in the electoral process. The RJD came second in several seats. BJP’s Nawal Kishore Yadav had fake votes cast, yet Sanjiv secured victory (in Patna Teachers’ seat),” Yadav asserted.
Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha, in a social media post, wrote, “Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all the candidates who emerged victorious in the council elections with the blessings of the people. I hope that with everyone’s cooperation, we will succeed in realising the resolve of the esteemed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a developed India and a developed Bihar by 2047.
(PTI News)
