Patna, Mar 14: The results of two assembly seats contested in the recent round of bypolls in Bihar were declared on Wednesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained the seat of Bhabhua, whereas, its ally, the Janata Dal (United) failed to wrest Jehanabad from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The bye-elections were necessitated in both the constituencies following the death of the incumbent legislators. From Bhabhua, deceased MLA Anand Pandey's wife Rinki Pandey defeated Congress candidate Shambu Patel by 15,490 votes.

In Jehanabad, RJD candidate Sujay Yadav succeeded in defending the seat last represented by his deceased father Mundrika Singh Yadav by a margin of 35,036 votes.

RJD was also leading the bypoll race in the Lok Sabha constituency of Araria. The party nominee Sarfaraz Alam, who defected from JD(U) days before the bypoll announcement, was leading against BJP's Pradeep Singh by over 40,000 votes by the time this report was published. For the latest updates, click here.

Alam is the son of Mohammad Taslimuddin, the late MP from Araria, whose death necessitated the bye-election.

Reacting to the poll outcome, Tejashwi Yadav, the son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, said, "This is a victory of my father's ideology. We have defeated the communal and fascist forces. And in 2019, the result of Araria and Jehanabad will be reflected across Bihar."

Although a disappointing outcome for the BJP-led NDA in Bihar, the  party did not lose ground as it continues to maintain its hold over Bhabhua. However, concern looms for the party in neighbouring UP, where it was trailing by a decisive margin in Gorakhpur and Phulpur -- the parliamentary seats which were last represented by incumbent Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 14, 2018 04:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).