Several ministers among NDA winners in Bihar election

Bihar ministers Prem Kumar, Maheshwar Hazari and Sanjay Saraogi were among prominent winners from the NDA camp which has, so far, won at least 21 seats in the 243-strong Assembly.

Kumar, a senior BJP leader who was the agriculture minister in the outgoing Nitish Kumar government, continued his unbroken run in Gaya Town, a seat he has been winning since 1990. He defeated his Congress rival Akhouri Onkar Nath by a staggering margin of over 26,000 votes.

Hazari, a JD(U) leader who held the Information and Public Relations Department portfolio in the Nitish Kumar government, retained his reserved seat of Kalyanpur where he trounced his nearest CPI(ML) Liberation rival Ranjeet Kumar Ram by a margin of more than 38,000 votes. He has won the seat for a fourth consecutive time.

Saraogi, a Marwari who has made a mark for himself in Bihar’s caste dominated politics, retained Darbhanga for a fifth consecutive time. The BJP leader, who was the minister for revenue and land reforms, defeated Umesh Sahni of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) by a margin of over 24,500 votes.

Other notable winners include Tourism Minister Raju Kumar Singh, who had won the seat in 2020 on a VIP ticket but later joined BJP. He has retained the seat for the saffron party by defeating Prithwi Nath Ray of RJD by over 13,000 votes.

Other prominent winners include former minister Rana Randhir Singh of BJP (Madhuban) and don-turned-politician Anant Singh who has won Mokama, a seat he won several times and was held by his wife after conviction in a UAPA case led to his disqualification.

Anant Singh, who is in jail in connection with the killing of Dular Chandra Yadav, a Jan Suraaj Party supporter, during election campaign, defeated Veena Devi of RJD, wife of Suraj Bhan Singh, his old rival in local politics as well as the underworld.

Another notable winner was Raju Tiwari, the state president of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union Minister Chirag Paswan. Tiwari had won the Govindganj seat in 2015 but lost it five years later when his party fought against the NDA. He has wrested the seat back by defeating nearest Congress rival Shashi Bhushan Rai by an astounding margin of more than 32,000 votes.

As per latest results available with the EC website, BJP has won 13 seats and was leading in 78, while its ally JD(U) was leading in eight seats and was ahead in 75. LJP(RV) won one and was ahead in 18 other constituencies.

RJD has bagged three seats and was leading in 24, while AIMIM won one and was leading in four.

BJP and JD(U) have contested 101 seats each, while their ally LJP (RV) put up candidates in 28 constituencies.

In the INDIA bloc, RJD fought in 141 seats, while the Congress contested 61 constituencies and CPI(ML) Liberation 20.