The NDA's stellar show in Bihar was reflected in the assembly by-elections as well with the BJP wresting the Dehri seat from the RJD, defeating the opposition party by a thumping margin of over 30,000 votes and the JD(U) surging ahead of its rivals in Nawada.
BJP's Satyanarayan Singh polled 72,097 votes in Dehri, while his nearest RJD rival Mohammad Firoz Hussain got only 38,104.
Hussain's father Mohd Iliyas Hussain had won the seat in the 2015 assembly polls, and the by-election was necessitated by his conviction in a corruption case by a CBI court in Ranchi, which led to his disqualification from the assembly.
In the Nawada seat, which fell vacant upon sitting RJD MLA Raj Vallabh Yadav's conviction in a rape case, JD(U) candidate Kaushal Yadav was leading by a modest margin of just over 5,000 votes. The 'Mahagathbandhan' candidate, Dhirendra Kumar Sinha of the HAM, was third way behind Independent Shravan Kumar.
Notably, Raj Vallabh Yadav's wife Vibha Devi is in the fray from the Nawada Lok Sabha seat and trailing by over one lakh votes behind LJP's Chandan Kumar Singh.