BJP claims candidates supported by it swept Bihar Urban Local Body polls

The BJP on Friday claimed that most candidates supported by it have emerged victorious in the urban local bodies (ULBs) polls in Bihar, results of which began coming out on Friday.

Nominees considered to have been backed by the ruling Mahagathbandhan also won in several posts.

The ULB elections were not held on political party lines in the state and the win of an individual candidate cannot be declared as that of a political outfit, the RJD said.

While the counting of votes was still on for many places, Sita Sahu returned as the Mayor of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), officials said.

The BJP-backed candidate defeated her nearest rival Majzabi by a margin of 18,529 votes. Another candidate Chandravanshi won the post of deputy mayor by defeating Anjana Gandhi by a margin of 5,251 votes.

This time the election for the post of mayor and deputy mayor was done directly by the votes of the general public. Earlier, people were elected to these two posts by the votes of ward councillors.

Several close relatives of various leaders contested elections, and many other candidates claimed support of the ruling or opposition alliances.

Bihar BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh said, The outcome of ULB polls is a clear indication that people have rejected the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar. Most of the BJP-supported candidates won the posts of mayor and deputy mayor in several municipal corporations, including Patna, Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Siwan and Saran.

Reacting to the BJP's claims, RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary told PTI: There is no need to comment on it. Since ULB elections are not held on party symbols, how can they claim victory of individual candidates as their win? Right from the beginning, the BJP was not in favour of the ULB polls in the state.

The elections for 1,665 posts, including 1,529 wards of 135 ULBs across 23 districts, were held on December 28.

Elections were held for 17 municipal corporations, two nagar parishads and 49 nagar panchayats.

BJP-backed candidates won the mayor's post in Muzaffarpur Nagar Nigam (Nirmala Devi), Bhagalpur Nagar Nigam (Vadhundhra Lal), Arrah Nagar Nigam (Indu Devi) and Chapra (Saran) Nagar Nigam (Rakhi Gupta).

The ruling Mahagathbandhan-supported nominees won the posts of mayor in Gaya Nagar Nigam (Ganesh Paswan), Purnea Nagar Nigam (Vibha Kumari), Munger Nagar Nigam (Kumkum Devi) and Begusarai Nagar Nigam (Pinki Kumari).

The counting of votes is still underway in certain ULBs in different districts.

Deputy Speaker of Bihar Assembly and JD(U) leader Maheshwar Hazari's wife Sandhya Hazari was defeated for the post of mayor of Samastipur Nagar Nigam, officials said.

Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Renu Devi's daughter-in-law Surbhi Ghai lost the post of mayor of Bettiah Nagar Nigam in West Champaran district.

Stray incidents of violence had marred polling for the urban local bodies in the state, with 57.17 per cent of the nearly 62 lakh voters exercising their franchise.