NDA secures resounding win in Bihar assembly polls, dismal performance by INDIA bloc

Patna, Nov 14 (PTI) The ruling NDA on Friday secured a thumping majority in the Bihar Assembly, winning 202 seats in the 243-member House, as results for all the constituencies were declared by the Election Commission.

The BJP emerged as the largest party, winning 89 seats. Its ally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), won 85 seats, while Union minister Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) bagged 19 seats.

Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), headed by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, won five seats, while Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha bagged four seats.

Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and state ministers Prem Kumar, Maheshwar Hazari and Sanjay Saraogi, and BJP's Maithili Thakur were among prominent winners from the NDA camp.

RJD leader and INDIA bloc's CM face Tejashwi Yadav, the late Mohammad Shahabuddin's son Osama Shahab and CPI(ML) Liberation's Sandeep Saurav were among prominent winners from the opposition camp. Tejashwi Yadav won from Raghopur seat by a margin of 14,532 votes, defeating BJP's Satish Kumar.

The INDIA bloc managed to win only 34 seats. The RJD bagged 25 seats, while the Congress won six seats, the CPI(ML) Liberation two seats and the CPI(M) one.

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM won five seats, while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Indian Inclusive Party bagged one seat each.

Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary of the BJP won Tarapur assembly seat by a margin of 45,843 votes. Another Deputy CM, Vijay Kumar Sinha, won the Lakhisarai seat by 24,940 votes, defeating Congress' Amaresh Kumar.

Maithili Thakur, a first-time contestant, won Alinagar seat by a margin of 11,730 votes, defeating RJD's Binod Mishra.

Shreyashi Singh won from Jamui seat by a margin of 54,498 votes, defeating RJD's Mohammand Shamshad Alam. State minister Nitin Nabin won Bankipur seat by a margin of 51,936 votes, defeating RJD's Rekha Kumar.

Prem Kumar, a senior BJP leader who was the agriculture minister in the outgoing Nitish Kumar government, continued his unbroken run in Gaya Town, a seat he has been winning since 1990. He defeated his Congress rival Akhouri Onkar Nath by a staggering margin of over 26,000 votes.

Hazari, a JD(U) leader who held the Information and Public Relations Department portfolio in the Nitish Kumar government, retained his reserved seat of Kalyanpur where he trounced his nearest CPI(ML) Liberation rival Ranjeet Kumar Ram by a margin of more than 38,000 votes. He has won the seat for a fourth consecutive time.

Saraogi, a Marwari who has made a mark for himself in Bihar's caste dominated politics, retained Darbhanga for a fifth consecutive time. The BJP leader, who was the minister for revenue and land reforms, defeated Umesh Sahni of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) by a margin of over 24,500 votes.

Other notable winners include Tourism Minister Raju Kumar Singh, who had won the seat in 2020 on a VIP ticket but later joined the BJP. He has retained the seat for the saffron party by defeating Prithwi Nath Ray of RJD by over 13,000 votes.

Other prominent winners include former minister Rana Randhir Singh of BJP (Madhuban) and don-turned-politician Anant Singh who has won Mokama, a seat he won several times and was held by his wife after conviction in a UAPA case led to his disqualification.

Anant Singh, who is in jail in connection with the killing of Dular Chandra Yadav, a Jan Suraaj Party supporter, during election campaign, defeated Veena Devi of RJD, wife of Suraj Bhan Singh, his old rival in local politics as well as the underworld.

Another notable winner was Raju Tiwari, the state president of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan. Tiwari had won the Govindganj seat in 2015 but lost it five years later when his party fought against the NDA. He has wrested the seat back by defeating nearest Congress rival Shashi Bhushan Rai by an astounding margin of more than 32,000 votes.

The BJP and the JD(U) contested 101 seats each, while their ally LJP (RV) put up candidates in 28 constituencies.

In the INDIA bloc, the RJD fought in 141 seats, while the Congress contested 61 constituencies and the CPI(ML) Liberation 20. PTI PKD NAC SUK SOM BDC ACD