Power of pro-incumbency: All 25 ministers in fray, except one, hit it big in Bihar polls

The landslide victory of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar reflected a strong pro-incumbency wave in the state, with all but one of the 25 state ministers in the fray winning their respective seats.

 

The BJP had fielded 15 ministers, and all of them emerged victorious. Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha won the Tarapur and Lakhisarai assembly seats.

 

While BJP veteran and agricultural minister Prem Kumar retained Gaya Town for an eighth consecutive term, another minister, Raju Kumar Singh, won from the Sahebganj seat for a second term. 

 

Singh had contested from Sahebganj on a Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) ticket in 2020 before he switched sides and joined the BJP.

 

In Darbhanga, minister Sanjay Saraogi defeated VIP's Umesh Sahani, while minister Nitin Nabin pulled off a commanding win in Bankipur.

 

Renu Devi (Bettiah), Nitish Mishra (Jhanjharpur), Neeraj Kumar Singh 'Bablu' (Chhatapur), Kedar Prasad Gupta (Kurhani), Jibesh Kumar (Jale), Krishnanandan Paswan (Harsidhi), Vijay Kumar Mandal (Sikti), Krishna Kumar Mantoo (Amnour) and Sunil Kumar (Bihar Sharif) were the other BJP ministers who were elected again from their respective seats.

 

Among JD(U) ministers, Bijendra Yadav won from the Supaul seat for a third consecutive term, while Sheela Kumari and Leshi Singh got elected again from Phulparas and Dhamdaha, respectively.

 

Other ministers from the party who contested and won the polls included Ratnesh Sada (Sonbarsha), Madan Sahni (Bahadurpur), Vijay Kumar Choudhary (Sarairanjan), Jayant Raj (Amarpur), Shrawon Kumar (Nalanda) and Mohd. Zama Khan (Chainpur). 

 

Meanwhile, Sumit Kumar Singh, who sought reelection from Chakai assembly seat on a JD(U) ticket, lost by a margin of nearly 13,000 votes to RJD candidate Savitri Devi. 

 

Singh, who held the Science, Technology and Technical Education portfolio in the outgoing government, had won the Chakai seat in 2020 as an independent.

 

The NDA retained power in Bihar, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly and handing a crushing defeat to the opposition Mahagathbandhan, which was reduced to just 35 seats. 

 

While the BJP bagged 89 seats to become the single largest party, the JD(U) significantly improved their tally from 43 seats to 85.

India