The counting of votes for the graduating constituencies of Patna was completed on Friday evening. (Representative)
Patna:
The JD (U) lost one constituency of the Legislative Council of Bihar to an independent candidate and held on to two others, while the other five were retained by the respective members belonging to the BJP, CPI and the Congress in polls held last month, officials said on Saturday.
The vote count for the graduate constituencies of Patna, Koshi, Darbhanga and Tirhut, and the teaching constituencies of Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Saran, which began on Thursday, ended on Friday evening, they said.
The ballot for seats, which became vacant in May, was postponed for a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was held on October 22.
The ruling JD (U), led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, lost the teachers’ constituency of Darbhanga to Sarvesh Kumar, an independent candidate, who polled 15,595 out of 22,549 votes cast, the commission said electoral.
He snatched the seat from Dilip Kumar Chaudhary, a close associate of the incumbent JD (U) president and former minister Ashok Choudhary.
JD (U) candidates Neeraj Kumar and Devesh Chandra Thakur retained their graduate seats in Patna and Tirhut. Neeraj Kumar was the minister of the Department of Public Information Relations.
Ashok Choudhary held the building construction portfolio.
Kumar and Ashok Choudhary were recently removed from their cabinet posts after six months have passed since their membership in the legislature expired.
Ashok Choudhary is expected to be accommodated through the governor’s quota.
BJP candidates NK Yadav and Nawal Kishore Yadav retained the constituencies of Koshi graduates and Patna teachers respectively.
IPC candidates Sanjay Kumar Singh and Kedar Nath Pandey also retained their respective teacher constituencies of Tirhut and Saran.
Madan Mohan Jha, the state congressman, retained the Darbhanga teaching constituency.
