NDA wins Bihar LS bypolls

NEW DELHI: The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar has retained both the Bhagalpur and the Nalanda Lok Sabha seats in the byelections held for the two parliamentary constituencies.

Former Union minister and BJP nominee from Bhagalpur Syed Shahnawaz Husain was declared the winner on Thursday. He defeated Shakuni Chaudhary of RJD by a margin of 55,000 votes. Similarly, in the byelection to Nalanda, JD(U) candidate Ramswaroop Prasad emerged victorious by defeating Lalu Yadav supported Independent candidate Arun Kumar by a margin of 1.17 lakh votes.

Jubilant over the results, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said that the electorate had endorsed his government’s efforts to improve the living conditions in Bihar.

The BJP is also in a buoyant mood. Two days after sweeping the mayoral elections in UP, the results have given the BJP more reason to cheer. The party’s young Muslim face Hussain will now be the lone Muslim member on the Opposition benches.  The sudden buoyancy in the mood has acted an adhesive in the party and party leaders are now making intense strategies for coming assembly polls in UP, Uttaranchal, HP and Punjab. A voluntary self-restraint are also being exercised.

The bypolls were following resignations of Sushil Kumar Modi and Nitish Kumar respectively. They had to resign after taking over as Deputy CM and CM of Bihar.