Maharajganj by-poll: RJD defeats JD(U) by 1.36 lakh votes

Chapra: The RJD Wednesday won Maharajganj Lok Sabha bypoll defeating the JD-U candidate by more than 1.36 lakh votes after the end of the 14th round of counting.

Congress nominee Jitendra Swami is still much behind. After the 11th round, RJD`s Prabhunath Singh had polled 2,34,651 votes, JD(U)`s P K Shahi bagged 1,56,400 votes and Congress` Jitendra Swami managed only 22,160 votes. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Umashankar Singh, an RJD MP and father of Congress candidate Jitendra Swami. According to sources in the Election office, 18 rounds of counting will be done before the result is announced. RJD president Lalu Prasad, who had camped himself in the constituency for the last 10 days, told reporters in Patna that the Maharajganj bypoll result would be the beginning of the fall of the Nitish Kumar government. Lalu claimed the Maharajganj poll outcome would be an indication of things to come in the 2014 general elections for Bihar`s 40 seats as well. As trends poured in, the JD(U) candidate P K Shahi returned from the counting centre at the end of the fifth round after shaking hand with Singh. When reporters sought his reply, Shahi expressed unhappiness over the role of alliance partner BJP, saying "There was lack of enthusiasm among NDA workers at the grassroot level." BJP minister Giriraj Singh disagreed with Shahi and said his statement was against "coalition dharma."