Bihar bypolls: Setback for Nitish Kumar as JDU loses 2 seats to RJD

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish kumar received a major setback after his party , JDU  lost  ,its 2 sitting seats to RJD and one seat to independent, and managed to retain only one seat ,which it had won, in 2015 assembly elections. BJP lost the kishanganj assembly constituency to AIMIM .With this victory AIMIM  made its entry into Bihar legislative assembly for the first time. Prince Raj of LJP  defeated Ashok Ram of congress party from samastipur parliamentary constituency .The seat fell vacant after the death of Prince Rajs father Ramchandra Paswan. RJD won 3 assembly constituency, NDA won 2 seats and AIMIM won 1 seat .

By poll Results at a glance :

• Samastipur parliamentary constituency --  Prince Raj of LJP  defeated ashok Ram of congress by 1,002,90
• Simri bakhtiarpur assembly constituency -  Zafar Alam of Rjd  defeated Arun yadav of Jdu by 15,505 seats.
• Kishanganj assembly constituency -- Kamrul Hoda of AIMIM defeated Sweety Singh of BJP by 10204.
• Belhar assembly constituency --- Ramdeo Yadav of RJD defeated laldhari yadav of JDU by 19236 votes 
• Daraunda assembly constituency -- Independent candidate Karanjit Singh defeated Ajay Singh of JDU by 27279 votes .
• Nathnagar assembly constituency --- Laxmikant Mandal of JDU defeated Rubiya Khatoon of RJD by 5000 votes.

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RJD MP Manoj jha said that " RJD was keen to bring back ,in focus the everyday life issues of common people. The party wanted the elections to be fought on core issues of governance rather than issues which dont impact the socio economic contours. we have won 2 sitting seats of the JDU, which goes to show that the electorates are not happy with the nitish kumar led JDU BJP govt. It's the writing on the wall for 2020 vidhan sabha elections."

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Voters Reject dynastic Politics 

The important takeaways of the Bihar bye poll results are, that  the voters rejected the dynastic politics. Voters defeated the jdu candidates laldhari yadav  brother of JD(U) MP Girdhari Yadav, fielded from Belhar assembly constituency. Not only this Ajay Singh husband of JD(U) MP Kavita Singh, was defeated by independent candidate karanjit singh from Daraunda assembly constituency. Dynastic candidates were not only limited to JD(U). Congres had fielded ,Saida bano, mother of Kishanganj MP Dr. Javed  from kishanganj assembly constituency. She was defeated by  AIMIM candidate. 

Parties failed to transfer its cadre vote

In most of the constituencies both JDU  and RJD  failed to transfer its cadre vote. In Simri bakhtiyarpur assembly constituency jdu candidate was defeated  by 15505 votes .VIP  party candidate ,Dinesh Nishad played a spoilsport by bagging 25225 votes . Nishads are traditionally called "mallahs"(fisherman )in Bihar. Nishads belong to the EBC community, who have been supporting Nitish Kumar for the past 15 years .VIP ,party candidate made a dent into Nitishs votebank, paving way for RJD victory. The result in this constituency has given a new impetus to the politics of "son of mallah" mukesh sahni ,who has been championing the cause of Fishermen. It's a time for introspection and wake up call for Nitish Kumar.

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Similar was the case of Rjd as it candidate finished third in Daraunda assembly constituency . The party failed to transfer its core yadav votes to its candidate umesh singh . Independent candidate ,shailendra yadav secured 17274  yadav votes, damaging the prospect of RJD  candidate. In Nathnagar assembly constituency RJD candidate was defeated by 5000 votes. Whereas independent candidate Ashok Kumar secured 12000 yadav votes , paving way for JDU  candidates victory. These statistics suggests that  there has been a dent into the yadav votebank of Tejashwi yadav and EBC votes of Nitish Kumar .

K C tyagi, spokesperson of JDU  ,said that " by poll results  are not the real reflection .In 2009 bypolls  RJD had won 9 0ut of 13 seats . But in general election in 2010 JDU won 206 seats and RJD 22 seats out of 243. We will work hard to strengthen the party and win 2020 vidhan sabha elections."

This election results may have given the RJD  a fresh lease of life ,as the party failed to open its account in the 2019 lok sabha elections. NDA had won 39 out of 40 seats .These bypoll results also exposed the chinks in the NDA alliance at the ground level ,with rebel BJP  candidate winning election against JDU candidate from Daraunda assembly constituency .In 2009 RJD  had won 9 out of 13 bypoll, and in 2013 RJD  had won 4 bypolls . But in successive elections in 2010  assembly and 2019 lok sabha general elections ,RJD was trounced badly.

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