In the high-stakes battle for Bihar by-polls, the Mahagathbandhan comprising Congress and RJD suffered defeat in all four assembly constituencies.
After the counting concluded, the poll officials declared the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) victorious in all four constituencies – Ramgarh, Tarari, Imamganj, and Belaganj. In Belaganj, JD(U)’s Manorama Devi secured a decisive win over RJD’s Vishwanath Kumar Singh by a margin of 21,391 votes, breaking RJD’s three-decade-long grip on the seat.
This victory came as significant blow to the RJD, which had held the seat since the 1990s. Meanwhile, in Tarari, the BJP celebrated a historic win, marking its first-ever victory in this constituency. Vishal Prashant, son of powerful leader Sunil Pandey, triumphed over CPI(ML)’s Raju Yadav by 10,612 votes.
The contest in Imamganj saw Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s daughter-in-law, Deepa Manjhi, continuing the family’s political legacy by defeating RJD’s Roshan Manjhi by 5,945 votes. Jan Suraj’s candidate, Jitendra Paswan, finished third, securing 37,103 votes. Ramgarh witnessed a nail-biting race, where BJP’s Ashok Singh edged out BSP’s Satish alias Pintu Yadav by just 1,362 votes.
The contest was particularly tense as RJD’s Ajit Singh, son of state president Jagdanand Singh and brother of MP Sudhakar Singh, came third, leaving the counting hall midway in disappointment. These by-elections, which took place on November 13, are seen as a semi-final ahead of the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.
With 38 candidates’ reputations at stake, the results have dealt a blow to the opposition INDIA alliance, led by the RJD. The biggest blow for the INDIA bloc came in Belaganj, where they lost a seat that had been a bastion of their power for over 30 years, signalling a shift in the political landscape of Bihar. In the recently held Assembly by-polls, the average voter turnout stood at 52.84 per cent with no incidents of disturbance or violence.
–IANS
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