JD(U) retains Daraunda assembly seat in bypoll

Daraunda (Siwan), Oct 17: Dealing a blow to opposition RJD-LJP combine and the Congress once again, the ruling JD(U) today retained the Daraunda assembly constituency seat. JD(U) candidate Kavita Singh defeated her nearest RJD candidate Parmeshwar Singh by 20,092 votes.

Singh, the daughter in-law of the former MLA Jagmato Devi, polled 51,754 votes as against 31,662 votes secured by the RJD candidate who was supported by the party's strongmen Md Shahabuddin and Prabhunath Singh, besides the LJP.

The Congress candidate Kalika Sharan Singh and the CPI(M-L) nominee Jainath Yadav stood a distant third and fourth polling 4238 and 3754 votes respectively. Siwan's district magistrate-cum-returning officer Lokesh Kumar Singh announced the result after counting of votes held amid tight security arrangements.

There were as many as nine candidates, including three women, in the bypoll for Daraunda assembly seat that was held on October 13 in which 44 per cent electorate had exercised their franchisee. The Daraunda assembly seat had fallen vacant consequent to the death of the sitting JD(U) MLA Jagmato Devi in June and the party had given ticket to her newly-wed daughter in-law to contest the bypoll.

PTI