Bihar council polls: JD(U), BJP, CPI win 2 seats each; Cong, Independent bag 1

Patna, November 14

The JD(U) lost one constituency of the Bihar legislative council to an Independent candidate and held on to two others while the other five were retained by the respective members belonging to the BJP, the CPI and the Congress in the polls held last month, officials said on Saturday.

Counting of votes for the graduate constituencies of Patna, Koshi, Darbhanga and Tirhut, and the teacher constituencies of Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Saran, which began on Thursday, concluded late on Friday, they said.

The polling for the seats, which fell vacant in May, was deferred by a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and held on October 22.

The ruling JD(U), headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, lost the Darbhanga teacher constituency to Sarvesh Kumar, an Independent candidate, who polled 15,595 out of the 22,549 votes cast, the Election Commission said.

He wrested the seat from Dilip Kumar Chaudhary, a close aide of JD(U) working president and former minister Ashok Choudhary.

JD(U) candidates Neeraj Kumar and Devesh Chandra Thakur retained their Patna graduate and Tirhut graduate seats. Neeraj Kumar was the minister for Information Public Relations Department.

Ashok Choudhary held the building construction portfolio.

Kumar and Choudhary were stripped of their cabinet berths recently as a period of six months elapsed since their membership of the legislature expired.

Choudhary is expected to be accommodated through the Governor’s quota.

BJP candidates NK Yadav and Nawal Kishore Yadav retained the Koshi graduate and Patna teacher constituencies, respectively.

CPI candidates Sanjay Kumar Singh and Kedar Nath Pandey also retained their respective teacher constituencies of Tirhut and Saran.

Madan Mohan Jha, the state Congress president, retained the Darbhanga teacher constituency. PTI