Defeat notwithstanding, BJP did well in Kishanganj in by-poll:

Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal on Saturday said though they lost at Kishanganj assembly seat because of the prevailing social equation in the muslims- dominated constituency, the saffron party got more votes than it has been getting there till now.

The BJP had fielded its candidate only on Kishanganj assembly segmeng out of the five seats that had gone to by- poll in the state.

BJP's nominee Sweety Singh lost to Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM candidate Qamrul Hoda at Kishanganj by a margin on 10,000 votes.

Though the by-election on the seat was necessitated because the sitting Congress MLA Mohd Javed had got elected to Parliament from the seat, having the same name in the general election, the grand old party's candidate Sayeeda Banu, mother of Javed, was no where in the contest on the seat.

 

Asked to comment on the by-poll results, Jaiswal, who is also an MP, said the party has got more than what it has been getting in Kishanganj till now.

"The result is not in party's favour because of social equation in the constituency. But we fought the elections quite well and polled highest ever votes in Kishanganj and will try to live upto people's expectation next time," he told reporters.

Jaiswal informed that the party will host veteran party leader Kailashpati Mishra's death anniversary on November 5 in the state capital which will be attended by BJP's national working president J P Nadda.

It will be Nadda's first visit to Bihar after becoming the national working president, he said adding that several prominent leaders and workers right upto the block level will participate in the function.

Mishra had been a tall BJP leader of Bihar and is credided for strongly rooting the saffron party in the state.

Soon after the function, Nadda will hold meetings with state level office-bearers and core committee members to discuss issues relating to the state, Jaiswal said.

Nadda did his schooling and had his college education in Patna. He had also participated in the JP movement in the mid 70s.

Asked whether he would induct Karnjeet Singh, who won Daraundha assembly by-poll as Independent candidate, after denied ticket because the seat had gone to the BJP's ally JD (U), into the party, the BJP state chief said "anyone willing to join BJP is welcome."

Jaiswal admitted Singh has met him.

BJP's rebel candidate Karnjeet Singh alias Vyas Singh, who was sacked by the party less than a week before voting took place on October 21 as a disciplinary measure, defeated JD(U) candidate Ajay Singh in Daraundha assembly segment.

The bypoll took place as Ajay Singh's wife Kavita Singh was elected to Lok Sabha from Siwan in the general election.

Without going into details, Jaiswal said there was a need to think over the poll results.

He further said that the party would try to overcome the "shortcomings".

Out of the five assembly seats going for the by- election in Bihar, opposition RJD won two seats- Simri Bakhtiarpur and Belhar- ruling JD(U) bagged Nathnagar constituency, AIMIM gained a toehold in the state clinching Kishanganj, while the Daraundha assembly segment went to Independent.

The NDA, however, scored an easy victory in Samastipur (SC) Lok Sabha constituency where Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's nephew Prince Raj defeated Ashok Kumar of the Congress by over 1 lakh votes.