Election strategist Prashant Kishor springs surprises in Bihar legislative council polls; Jan Suraj Abhyan-backed candidate wins Saran Teachers' seat

PATNA: Election strategist-turned political activist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday sprang surprises in the results of the Bihar legislative council polls.
His Jan Suraj Abhiyan-backed independent candidate Afaque Ahmad won Saran teachers’ seat, defeating his nearest rival Anand Pushkar of CPI by 674 votes.
Ahmad got 3,055 votes while Pushkar got 2,381.
The BJP’s Dharmendra Kumar got only 495 votes, less than many independent candidates.
The Jan Suraj Abhiyan-backed another independent candidate Abhiram Sharma unexpectedly secured third position in the Gaya teachers’ seat.
BJP candidate Jivan Kumar is leading by around 4,000 votes over his nearest rival and sitting MLC Sanjeev Shyam Singh of JD(U) in the Gaya teachers’ seat. The BJP is all set to win this seat.
Of the total five council constituencies where pollings were held on March 31, the results of two – Kosi teachers and Saran teachers – have officially been declared so far.
In the other three seats, either counting is on or the Election Commission is yet to officially declare the results.
The first result came from the Kosi teachers’ seat where JD(U)’s candidate and sitting MLC Sanjeev Kumar Singh won the election by a huge margin. Singh secured 8692 votes, while the BJP candidate Ranjan Kumar got only 599 votes.
Independent candidate Yogendra Mahto turned out as runner up by securing 2,142 votes, an official of the Purnia division where votes of Kosi teachers’ constituency were counted, told TOI over phone.
In Saran graduates’ constituency, the JD(U) candidate and sitting MLC Virendra Narayan Yadav is leading by a small margin to his nearest rival BJP’s Mahachandra Prasad Singh.
In Gaya Graduates’ constituency, former council chairman and sitting MLC Awadesh Narain Singh is locked into a neck-to-neck fight with the RJD’s candidate Punit Kumar Singh, who is the son of RJD state chief Jagdanand Singh.
Elections in Gaya & Kosi teachers’ constituencies and Saran & Gaya graduates’ constituencies are necessitated as their respective sitting members are scheduled to retire on May 8 this year, while the by-poll in the Saran teachers’ constituency was necessitated due to untimely death of sitting MLC Kedar Nath Pandey on October 24 last year. Those retiring in May are Sanjeeva Shyam Singh (Gaya teachers), Sanjeev Kumar Singh (Kosi teachers), Awadhesh Narain Singh (Gaya graduates) and Virendra Narayan Yadav (Saran Graduates).
The state legislative council has a total 75 seats. Of them, 27 are elected from Vidhan Sabha constituency, 24 from the Local Authority constituency, six each from teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies while the rest 12 are nominated by the governor at the advice of the state government.
Of the total six teachers’ constituencies, three went to polls on Friday. Similarly, of the total six graduates’ constituencies, two went to the polls on March 31.