Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | As Lalu’s ‘laltern’ flickers, Nitish’s ‘arrow’ hits the bullseye

The BJP-led alliance continued its winning streak in Bihar, with the NDA romping home in 30 out of 40 Lok Sabha constituencies. Of this, Nitish’s JD(U) and the BJP won 12 each, while Chirag Paswan’s pocket organisation LJP(R) won all 5 seats it contested.

Another ally, Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM), who contested one seat—Gaya—emerged victorious for the first time in any parliamentary election. The only setback for the NDA was its other ally, former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, who lost the poll from Karakat.

On the other hand, Lalu Prasad’s RJD, which led the battle against the NDA in Bihar, suffered another drubbing, as it could scrape through in merely four constituencies, although it contested 23 seats while allowing the Congress, Left and the VIP to contest on 9, 5 and 3 seats respectively.

Relatively, the Left, particularly the CPI-ML, performed much better, as the latter won two out of the three seats it contested. Both the wins were significant in the sense that CPI-ML’s Sudama Prasad defeated Union Power Minister RK Singh, the IAS officer-turned-politician, from Ara. Singh had earlier won from Ara twice—in 2014 and 2019.

In another blow to the NDA, CPI-ML candidate Raja Ram Singh defeated Upendra Kushwaha from Karakat for whom Modi and Amit Shah too had campaigned in central Bihar.

Independent's day

However, the most noticeable victory was that of Pappu Yadav, the Independent candidate from Purnia. Pappu, who joined the Congress just ahead of LS election, was denied the party ticket at the behest of Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, who fielded controversial figure Bima Bharti as the RJD candidate from Purnia. Pappu, who has been elected as an MP on four earlier occasions, romped home as an Independent from his bastion.

The Congress was content after it won Kishanganj (Md Javed), Katihar (Tariq Anwar) and Sasaram (Manoj Ram).

In another poll reverses, former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav lost to Lalu’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti in a keen contest from Pataliputra. Misa had earlier lost to Ram Kripal in 2014 and 2019 but stopped Ram Kripal from making a hat-trick in 2024. However, Lalu’s younger daughter Rohini Acharya, who was also in the fray from Saran parliamentary constituency and making her debut in any Lok Sabha poll, lost to BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former Union minister.

Meanwhile, BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, the former Union law minister, emerged victorious from Patna Sahib, defeating Congress’ Anshul Avijit, son of ex-Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the first-ever roadshow by any PM in Patna in favour of Ravi Shankar, who, in the 2019 defeated Shatrughan Sinha.

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