New Delhi:
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) suffered a huge setback on Thursday, losing four of the five assembly seats where by-elections were held in the state. However, the sole Lok Sabha seat which went to the polls, Samastipur, was retained by ally Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party. Prince Raj of LJP won the seat that was won by his father Ramchandra Paswan in 2019 lok sabha elections.
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM opened its account in the state winning the Kisanganj seat. The party's candidate, Qamrul Hoda defeated BJP rival Sweety Singh by 10,204 votes. This was the third time the AIMIM is contesting in the state, where 16 per cent of the population is from the Muslim community.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JDU lost three of the four seats it contested while BJP suffered defeat on the sole seat where it fielded a candidate. The assembly segments had fallen vacant upon the respective MLAs getting elected to the Lok Sabha. Most of the candidates in the by-elections are relatives of the former MLAs. However, most of these candidates with links to elected leaders, lost across the state.
JD (U) candidate Ajay Singh, husband of former MLA Kavita Singh, lost in the Daraunda seat. He was defeated by Independent candidate Karnjeet Singh aka Vyas Singh by a margin of 27,279 votes.
In Belhar, JDU candidate Laldhari Yadav, whose brother Giridhari Yadav had won the seat in 2015 assembly polls and is currently the MP from Banka, lost to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Ramdeo Yadav by 19,231 votes.
And in Kishanganj, Sayeda Banu, the mother of Congress MP Dr Jawed, came a poor third.
RJD wrested the Simri Bakhtiyarpur assembly seat from the ruling JDU in Bihar. RJD's Zafar Alam defeated JDUcandidate Arun Kumar by a comprehensive margin of 15,505 votes, the official said.
Nathnagar was the only seat where JDU managed to win with Lakshmikant Mandal finishing ahead of RJD's Rabiya Khatun.
