Bankipur bypoll results contrary to expectations, NDA to review defeat: Bihar minister

Patna: Bihar minister and senior JD(U) leader Shrawon Kumar on Tuesday described the Bankipur assembly bypoll results as “contrary to expectations” and said the ruling NDA will review and ascertain the causes of its defeat. Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor made a historic electoral debut on Monday, winning the bypoll, in a big blow to the BJP, which had held the Bankipur seat since 1995. The defeat, coming days after the massive Gen Z protests across the country, was even more stinging because the seat was last held by BJP president Nitin Nabin, whose elevation to the Rajya Sabha necessitated the by-election on July 30. Kishor, who got 64,151 votes, defeated BJP’s Neeraj Kumar by 19,324. Kumar garnered 44,827 votes. Rekha Gupta of RJD was a distant third with 14,273 votes. The BJP nominee was hurriedly fielded after its previous candidate Abhishek ‘Bunty’ pulled out of the fray at the eleventh hour, citing “family reasons”. “The Bankipur by-election results are indeed contrary to expectations. The NDA constituents, including JD(U), will conduct a detailed review of the results. It is only through a review that we can arrive at the exact causes behind our defeat,” Kumar said. Don-turned-politician Anant Singh, a JD(U) MLA considered an ardent supporter of former chief minister Nitish Kumar, said people are “angry about the removal of Kumar from the CM’s post”. “There is a popular perception that Nitish Kumar was forcibly removed from the CM’s post. They are unhappy that the man who worked for their development for such a long time was forced to leave the post. I know this is not true, but that is what people believe. This is one of the reasons behind NDA’s defeat,” Singh said. Senior JD(U) leader Shyam Rajak also called for a “thorough review” of the NDA’s defeat in the by-election and said there was a need to prepare a “concrete action plan” after holding deliberations with leaders and grassroots workers. “We respect people’s mandate and congratulate Prashant Kishor over his victory. As for us, we require a thorough review which should not be confined to the leaders, but it must involve grassroots workers of Bankipur,” Rajak told. He claimed that the NDA worked tirelessly to deliver development for the people, adding that there was a need to figure out the reasons behind “people’s sense of dissatisfaction” if the alliance were to “regain its position”. In a statement, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Saraogi had on Monday said, “We bow down before the people’s will. We shall draw lessons from the debacle, unlike our opponents who tend to blame every electoral loss of theirs on EVMs and the Election Commission.”