Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United retained Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur seats in the bypolls on Tuesday, warding off any immediate increase in the threat to the National Democratic Alliance government in the state.

The results not only denied the Opposition any additional ammunition to attack the ruling dispensation in the state, but also put a question mark on their decisions and leaderships.

JDU’s Aman Bhushan Hazari polled 59,887 votes to comfortably win Kusheshwar Asthan by a margin of 12,695 votes. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of his father Shashi Bhushan Hazari earlier this year. His main opponent Ganesh Bharti of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) bagged 47,192 votes. Congress candidate Atirek Kumar polled just 5,603 votes, thereby forfeiting his security deposit.

Incidentally, the Congress had claimed Kusheshwar Asthan to be a part of its traditional stronghold and had broken away from the grand alliance in the state after ally RJD fielded its candidate from there. The Congress went on to field its candidate from Tarapur also. The decision did not work for the two parties.

In Tarapur, JDU candidate Rajiv Kumar Singh won by a slender margin of 3,821 votes despite lagging behind RJD candidate Arun Kumar Sah till halfway into the counting.

JDU leader and state water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said: “The results are the endorsement of chief minister Nitish Kumar’s work in the state. They scotched the narrative that was being created against him by the Opposition since the 2020 Assembly elections.”

While celebrations broke out at JDU state headquarters in Patna, the RJD state headquarters presented a deserted look with most of the senior leaders staying away from the public gaze.

Though RJD chief Lalu had campaigned in both the constituencies, his charisma did not work. He spent the day huddled with senior leaders of his party at wife Rabri Devi’s 10, Circular Road residence in Patna. His younger son and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav spoke after the results.

“We respect the public mandate. We contested Kusheshwar Asthan for the first time since the formation of the RJD. We tried that the elections be fought on public issues instead of personal attacks. We gave a tough fight, such a fight that this government’s ministers had to campaign door-to-door. The Tarapur match went to the last over. It is all right. Our vote share has increased,” he said.

“We raised some concerns before the Election Commission and submitted evidence too. It is a constitutional body and if leaders like me do not respect it then who will do so, despite whatever it does,” Tejashwi said in reference to his allegations of government officials working in favour of the JDU.

However, Lalu’s eldest son and Hasanpur MLA Tej Pratap Yadav, continuously at loggerheads with Tejashwi and senior party leaders, did speak on the poll performance of the RJD. He also questioned the decisions that led to the Congress breaking away from the Opposition Grand Alliance.

The bypoll performance will also question Tejashwi’s election strategy because it has led to several allies quitting the Grand Alliance since last year. Had the RJD won both the seats it would have come very close to taking a shot at forming its government in the state.

The poor performance of the Congress will cast doubts on the decisions taken by All India Congress Committee (AICC) Bihar in-charge Bhakta Charan Das. He was instrumental in breaking away from the Grand Alliance in the state, and was called Bhakchonhar (stupid) by RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

The results also threw up questions whether new and young Congress leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar, Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani who campaigned in the Bihar bypolls had any influence on the voters. The results have come as a setback for them, more so for Kanhaiya, who hails from Begusarai in Bihar.

Former MLA and Congress leader Rishi Mishra was among the few who questioned the party’s state leadership. “Who will take the responsibility for such a poor performance? You have relegated the party to the fourth position in the Mithila region. Our leader Rahul Gandhi loses an election and immediately takes responsibility, but you are not even making an offer,” he said.

Incidentally, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Paswan also forfeited security deposits in both the constituencies, but bagged more votes than the Congress.

Nitish thanked the voters for the mandate and said, “The public is the maalik (lord) and it has announced its decision.”