M A I N   N E W S

RJD pockets two more seats in Bihar

Patna, May 26
With two more seats coming the RJD’s way today, the total number of seats won by the party in the Lok Sabha elections has gone up to 23. The RJD retained the Siwan seat, while it wrested Bettiah from the BJP. Mohammed Shahabuddin, lodged in jail in connection with criminal cases, won the Siwan seat for the fourth consecutive term by defeating his nearest rival Om Prakash Yadav of JD(U) by a margin of over one lakh votes.

Rahgunath Jha, who had returned to the RJD after abandoning the JD(U), won the Bettiah seat and defeated his archrival Madan Prasad Jaiswal of the BJP by a margin of over 24,000 votes.

Mr Jha, an old Parliamentarian, has a tendency of changing his constituency, as he shifted to Gopalganj from Sheohar Lok Sabha constituency during the last elections. He again changed his constituency and shifted to Bettiah in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

After the repoll in Bettiah and Siwan Lok Sabha constituencies on May 24, counting of votes was held today. With the results, the RJD has now 23 MPs, BJP and JD(U) five each, LJP four and Congress three. Of the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies, results of 39 seats had been declared, while Chapra Lok Sabha constituency would go for repolling on May 31. — UNI