"Will review reasons behind it": JDU Spokesperson Neeraj kumar on Bypolls defeat

Patna (Bihar) [India], July 15 (ANI): After Janata Dal-United-led NDA lost by-election in the Rupauli legislative assembly constituency, JDU spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said on Monday that the party accepted its defeat and will review the reasons behind it.
Taking it further, he questioned Tejashwi Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Parsad Yadav for not campaigning for their candidate, Bima Bharti, and also alleged them for betraying their allies.
Addressing media persons in a press conference, JDU leader Neeraj Kumar said, "We accept our defeat in the Rupauli elections and we (party and NDA) will review the reasons behind our defeat."
Questioning the opposition RJD for not campaigning for Bima Bharti, Kumar stated, "My question is for Lalu Yadav. When it was about his daughter's campaigning, Lalu Yadav's health became better, and he campaigned for her daughter, but he didn't campaign for Bima Bharti. Extremely backward and the Gangota community was insulted."
He also stated, "But the question is about RJD. My equation ended in the Rupauli elections. Muslims did not vote for the RJD candidate. Why didn't they vote for RJD?"
Kumar further alleged, "RJD also betrayed the ally party. CPI wanted to contest in Rupauli but they didn't give a ticket to their candidate."
An independent candidate, Shankar Singh secured victory in Rupauli. He defeated JDU's Kaladhar Prasad Mandal by a vote margin of 8,246. Singh garnered 68,070 votes while Mandal secured 59,824 votes. Meanwhile, RJD's Bima Bharti also lost the bye-election. She had secured 30,619 votes.
The bye-election in Rupauli was necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who had won the seat for JD(U) several times in the past but quit the party recently to contest Lok Sabha elections on an RJD ticket.
Notably, the counting of votes for the 13 legislative assembly seats spread across seven states began on Saturday morning. Polling took place on July 10 for the assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.
The Election Commission held the by-elections in one seat of Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh, two seats of Uttarakhand, three seats of Himachal Pradesh, and four seats of Uttarakhand.
The constituencies included Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu; Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh; Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala in West Bengal; Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand; Jalandhar West in Punjab; and Rupauli in Bihar. (ANI)