Bye, bye Modi wave in Bihar? Lalu-Nitish alliance lead in 7 seats

Patna: The alliance comprising RJD, JD(U) and Congress is leading in Bihar with alliance candidates ahead in seven seats and BJP in three of the ten Assembly seats where bypoll was held on 21 August. [caption id=“attachment_1679849” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav (left) with JD-U counterpart Nitish Kumar. PTI[/caption] The trends made available by the Election Commission at 10:30 am show the secular alliance parties leading in 7 seats with the RJD and JD(U) leading in three each and Congress in 1 seat. BJP is leading in Narkatiaganj, Banka and Mohania (SC) seats, the EC statement said. RJD of Lalu Prasad is ahead at Rajnagar (SC), Chapra and Mohiuddinagar. Ruling JD(U) of Nitish Kumar is leading at Jale, Hajipur and Parbatta. Congress is ahead at Bhagalpur. In the 2010 Assembly election, BJP had won 6, RJD 3 and JD(U) 1 seat respectively. The regrouped “Mandal forces” appears to have checked division of votes which is a setback for BJP which had won 31 seats out of 40 in Bihar in the recent general election with ally LJP and RLSP. The trends, available so far in Bihar with the BJP leading in 6 seats and the secular alliance ahead in 4, show changing a equation among parties in many seats. Lalu Prasad’s RJD seems to have gained from its alliance with JD(U) and Congress as it was in a comfortable position in Chapra and Mohiuddinnagar seats which were won by BJP in the 2010 poll. In Chapra, where Lalu Prasad has considerable influence and from where he himself won Lok Sabha elections five times since 1977, RJD’s Randhir Singh is ahead of Kankiah Singh of BJP by 7740 votes after the fourth round of counting, the EC statement said. In Mohiuddinagar of Samastipur district which was with BJP, RJD’s Ajay Kumar Bulgania is leading over his BJP rival Rajesh Kumar Singh by 14004 votes after the fourth round, the EC statement said. In Bhagalpur, Ajeet Kumar Sharma of Congress is ahead of nearest BJP contestant Nabhaya Kumar Chaudhary by 2293 votes after the second round of counting. Bhagalpur has been represented by BJP continously since 1990. The BJP seems to have made inroads in three contituencies of Banka, Mohania (SC) and Rajnagar (SC) which were with rivals. In Banka BJP’s Ram Narayan Mandal is ahead of RJD’s Iqbal Hussain Ansari by 1452 votes after the second round. In Mohania (SC), BJP’s Niranjan Ram is ahead of JD(U) Chandrasekhar Paswan by 3513 votes. The seat was represented by Chhedi Paswan of JD(U) who switched sides to BJP and won the recent general election from Sasaram (SC) by trouncing Meira Kumar of Congress. BJP is also gaining at Rajnagar (SC) where its candidate Ram Prit Paswan is leading over RJD’s Ramwatar Paswan by 1289 votes. In Narkatiaganj, BJP’s Rashmi Varma, who is a kin of first President Rajendra Prasad is ahead of Fakhruddin Khan of Congress by 1947 votes. LJP, an ally of BJP, which had contested from one seat at Parbatta is trailing behind JD(U)’s R P Singh by 2259 votes. BJP had fielded candidates in 9 seats. As part of the secular alliance, JD(U) and RJD had contested in four seats each while Congress had put up candidates in two. The outcome of the bypoll would not have much impact on health of the Jitan Ram Manjhi ministry as it enjoys support of 145 MLAs in the 243-member house whose effective strength at present is 232. Election of Independent candidate Somprakash Singh from Obra in Aurangabad district has been annuled by the Patna High Court recently. Rest 10 seats are witnessing bypoll. Dubbed as a semi-final to the assembly polls next year, these polls are expected to give all political stakeholders a sense of the people’s mood, and will also give BJP rivals a sense of whether the Modi wave is as invulnerable as it looked in the Lok Sabha polls. Considering the significance of the by-elections for their political survival, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have made several trips to the 10 constituencies. Though no big leaders from outside the state campaigned for NDA candidates, state BJP leaders with LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan and ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Samata Party of If this combine does not click, rebuilding his personal credibility will be that much tougher for Nitish. This has to be especially true for a man who forced the comfortably placed JD (U)-BJP alliance in Bihar, which had ruled for two consecutive terms, to collapse over Narendra Modi’s ascendancy as prime ministerial candidate. Personal credibility was all he walked away with from that mess, something he has already tossed into the stakes with this alliance. For Lalu personally, a defeat now would be simply disastrous. The RJD, already riven by factionalism, could cease to count as a political force if it splinters. In the midst of all the tension, the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav , has been hospitalised in Mumbai. “This is a scheduled medical evaluation. There is no cause to panic,” a spokesperson for the Asian Heart Institute, located in Mumbai, told PTI. Asked if the 66-year-old leader would undergo a heart surgery, the spokesperson said, “That would be decided onlyafter medical evaluation.” PTI