MLC Election Results: Upsets in Bihar Teacher Constituencies

Results of the Bihar Legislative Council elections are beginning to emerge, with several teacher constituencies recording unexpected outcomes.

The Patna Teachers Constituency saw Dr. Sanjeev Kumar of the Rashtriya Janata Dal win against Nawal Kishore Yadav, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader. The victory is being viewed as a major upset in the region.

In the Darbhanga teacher seat, Suresh Rai of the Jan Suraaj Party defeated senior Congress leader Madan Mohan Jha.

The Saran teacher seat went to Dr. Rahul Raj, a BJP rebel who won as an independent. The Tirhut teacher constituency was won by Narendra Prasad Singh of the BJP.

Following his win, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar termed the outcome a victory for the teaching community and a triumph of dharma over adharma. He argued that injustice had prevailed for the last 30 years and that elections were being influenced through fake votes. He stated that the full political strength of his opponents had been directed against him, but he had still emerged victorious.

Dr. Kumar expressed gratitude to his supporters, workers, teachers and family members. He alleged that police and administrative machinery had been used during the polls and that three commissioners had been transferred. He also claimed that the chief minister and the whole cabinet had been engaged in trying to defeat him.

He said he would work with honesty and determination to fulfil the promises he had made to teachers. He vowed to raise teachers' issues in the Legislative Council and compel the government to act on their problems. He added that after breaking the 30-year-old stronghold in Patna's teacher seat, he would continue his battle against the BJP government.

The eight seats of the Bihar Legislative Council went to the polls on October 23. The election covered four graduate and four teacher constituencies. Voter turnout was 82.85 percent in teacher constituencies and 53.42 percent in graduate constituencies.

A total of 150 candidates were in the fray, with 90 contesting graduate seats and 60 contesting teacher seats.

Polls were conducted in the Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Kosi graduate constituencies and in the Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Saran teacher constituencies. Counting began on Tuesday morning at centres in the respective divisional headquarters. Teacher constituency results have been announced, and counting for graduate constituencies is still continuing.