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Patna, Nov 14 (IANS) Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate and former Siwan MP and son of ‘Bahubali’ (strong leader) Mohammad Shahabuddin Osama Shahab has taken an early lead from Raghunathpur assembly constituency, according to preliminary data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
According to the ECI update at 1.00 pm, Osama is ahead by more than 32,000 votes and has a lead of 9,236 votes over JDU candidate Vikash Kumar Singh.
This is the first Bihar Assembly election after the death of controversial gangster-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin, who was convicted in several criminal cases, including double murder, and died due to Covid-19 complications in 2021.
Shahabuddin, who served four terms in the Lok Sabha, was barred from contesting elections after his conviction, yet his political influence remained in Siwan.
During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, his wife Hina Shahab contested as an independent from Siwan after not getting a ticket from RJD, but she lost to JDU candidate Vijayalakshmi Devi.
Subsequently, both Hina and Osama joined RJD ahead of the assembly elections.
The ruling NDA had sharply criticized the RJD for fielding Osama and alleged that the party was “promoting criminals” in Bihar politics and accused him of trying to “bring back jungle raj” in the state.
Meanwhile, the NDA is currently leading on 196 seats, while the Grand Alliance is leading on 40 seats.
The counting process for all 243 assembly seats began at 8 am, starting with the verification of postal ballots. This was followed by counting of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes from 8.30 am, which took place under elaborate multi-layered security arrangements across the state.
The candidates of both the alliances expressed confidence in their performance. NDA leaders emphasized that the people of Bihar have reposed faith in the guarantees of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the work of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the development of the state.
The RJD-led grand alliance claimed that Bihar “voted for change” and expressed hope that Tejashwi Yadav would form the next government.
More than 70 crore voters participated in the elections, casting their votes to decide the fate of both the ruling NDA and the Grand Alliance. Voting was held in two phases on 6 and 11 November.
In the outgoing assembly, the NDA has 131 seats, including BJP’s 80, JD(U)’s 45, HAM(S)’s four and two independents. The opposition faction has 111 seats, of which RJD has 77, Congress has 19, CPI (ML) has 11, CPI (M) has two and CPI has two.
–IANS
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