JDU Leader Neeraj Kumar Accepts Defeat in Rupauli By-Election
Patna (Bihar) [India], July 15: After the Janata Dal-United (JDU)-led NDA lost the by-election in the Rupauli legislative assembly constituency, JDU spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar stated that the party accepted its defeat and will review the reasons behind it.
Neeraj Kumar Questions RJD’s Campaign Efforts
Neeraj Kumar questioned Tejashwi Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for not campaigning for their candidate, Bima Bharti, and accused them of betraying their allies. He said, “We accept our defeat in the Rupauli elections and we (party and NDA) will review the reasons behind our defeat.”
Kumar further questioned, “My question is for Lalu Yadav. When it was about his daughter’s campaigning, Lalu Yadav’s health became better, and he campaigned for her daughter, but he didn’t campaign for Bima Bharti. Extremely backward and the Gangota community was insulted.”
Allegations Against RJD
Kumar also alleged, “RJD also betrayed the ally party. CPI wanted to contest in Rupauli but they didn’t give a ticket to their candidate.”
Election Results
An independent candidate, Shankar Singh, won the Rupauli seat by defeating JDU’s Kaladhar Prasad Mandal by a margin of 8,246 votes. Singh received 68,070 votes, while Mandal secured 59,824 votes. RJD’s Bima Bharti also lost, securing 30,619 votes.
Background
The by-election in Rupauli was necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who had won the seat for JD(U) several times in the past but recently quit the party to contest Lok Sabha elections on an RJD ticket.
Notably, the counting of votes for 13 legislative assembly seats across seven states began on Saturday morning. Polling took place on July 10 for the assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.
The Election Commission held by-elections in one seat each in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh, two seats in Uttarakhand, three seats in Himachal Pradesh, and four seats in West Bengal. The constituencies included Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu; Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh; Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala in West Bengal; Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand; Jalandhar West in Punjab; and Rupauli in Bihar.
