NDA wins 13 seats in Bihar Legislative Council polls

The BJP-led NDA won 13 out of 24 seats in the Bihar Legislative Council polls on Friday, dealing a major blow to the grand alliance of the ruling JD-U and its allies the RJD and the Congress barely months ahead of the state assembly elections.

The grand alliance, which also has the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), won 10 seats while one seat was won by an Independent candidate.

The BJP won 11 seats and its ally the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) won one seat while one seat was won by an Independent candidate supported by it. However, another BJP ally, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) was routed.

The results were seen as a major boost for the BJP which wants to secure a majority in the assembly polls scheduled to be held later this year.

Soon after the results were announced wild celebrations broke out outside the offices of the BJP here, while the JD-U and RJD offices -- in the same locality -- were deserted.

The ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U), which was confident of crushing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), won five seats, the RJD got four seats and the Congress one seat.

In the last election for the 24 seats, the JD-U had won 10, the BJP 5, the RJD 3, the LJP 3 and Independents 3.

Polling for these seats was held on Tuesday with an estimated 94 percent voting recorded. A total of 152 contestants were in the fray for the 24 council seats.

JD-U candidate Salim Perwej, who was deputy chairman of the council, was defeated from Chapra by the BJP's Sachitanand Rai.