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Nitish stunned in Bihar
Bypoll drubbing for NDA; Lalu, Paswan stage a comeback
Sanjay Singh
Tribune News Service

Patna, September 17
The Bihar bypoll results have come as a big shock to the ruling NDA — spearheaded by Nitish Kumar — which has just managed to win five out of the 18 Assembly seats. At the same time, they have brought cheer to the opposition — Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its ally the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) — that has bagged 9 seats.

The Congress, which contested the byelections on its own, has also won two seats indicating good chances of its revival in the state. The BSP has won one seat, while another one has gone to an Independent, who happens to be the wife of a JDU MP.

The JDU, which heads the ruling coalition in the state, retained Munger, Triveniganj, Dhuraiya and Bagha, while its ally the BJP pocketed Begusarai and Chainpur.

The RJD emerged victorious in Kalyanpur, Bochaha, Fulwari, Ramgarh and Aurai and ally the LJP won from Bodh Gaya, Warisnagar and Araria. The Congress wrested Simri Bakhtiarpur and Chenari seats from the JDU, which yielded Nautan seat to the BSP. An Independent was declared elected from the Ghosi seat.

Of the 18 seats, NDA had won 13 (JDU-10 and BJP-3) during the last Assembly polls, while four had gone to the RJD and one to the LJP. The Congress and the BSP had no presence on any of these seats. The byelection to the 18 seats were necessitated following elevation of 15 of the sitting MLAs to the Lok Sabha. The rest three were vacated after its MLAs defected to other parties during and after the Lok Sabha poll.

Interestingly, the voters have given a thumbs down to turncoats this time. The JDU had nominated most of the defectors who had deserted the RJD to join it after the party’s splendid performance during the last Lok Sabha polls. Another factor that may have wrecked Nitish Kumar’s ship is the drift of upper caste voters towards the Congress.

By not nominating a single Brahmin on his party symbol during the last LS polls, the JD(U) had already annoyed the Brahmin community. The party’s over enthusiasm to amend the Bihar Land Tenancy Act to give more rights to the croppers also antagonised the Bhumihars, who had been die-hard supporters of Nitish all this while. Shocked by the poll outcome, no leader from the ruling camp spoke to the media. On the other hand the supporters of Lalu and Paswan were distributing sweets and bursting crackers to express their joy over the party’s outstanding victory in the bypolls.

Capital gains for BJP, RJD
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17
In a major upset for the ruling Congress in the national capital, the BJP and the Lalu Prasad led-Rashtriya Janata Dal today wrested the Dwarka and Okhla Assembly seats from it.

In Dwarka constituency, BJP candidate Parduymn Rajput defeated his Congress rival Tilotma Choudhary by a margin of 11,365 votes while in the Muslim-dominated Okhla segment RJD’s Asif Mohd Khan emerged victorious over BSP’s Braham Singh by more than 5,000 votes.

With this win, the RJD has opened its account in the city. The Congress was placed third in Okhla with its candidate Farhad Suri polled 17,804 votes. In Dwaraka, Rajput polled 35,891 votes against Choudhary’s 24,526 votes.With the defeat in the bypolls to the two seats, the Congress’ tally in the Assembly has reduced from 42 to 40, while the BJP’s total strength increased from 23 to 24.

The bypoll in Dwarka was necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Mahabal Mishra was elected to the Lok Sabha from West Delhi seat, while the election in Okhla was conducted after sitting MLA Pervez Hashmi was elected to Rajya Sabha. The setback for the Congress in the national capital came almost 10 months after the party registered a historic win retaining power for the third consecutive term.

In Okhla, various factors resulted in the Congress’ defeat, including the NCP fielding Ram Singh Bidhuri, a former Congress leader, and Hashmi’s supporters reportedly not working in favour of Suri after the leadership refused to give ticket to a person of the Rajya Sabha MP’s choice.Khan had lost the last Assembly election by a narrow margin of 400 votes to Hashmi.