Suresh Prasad Rai, a former BJP candidate who finished as runner-up in previous polls, has secured a decisive victory for Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party. Rai captured 2,574 votes from the Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency, edging out the incumbent Congress MLC, Madan Mohan Jha, who polled 2,187 votes. The margin was tight at 324 votes, but Rai’s lead in first-preference counts held firm throughout the counting process.
Jha, who served as the state president of the Congress and a minister in the Mahagathbandhan government, left the counting center before the results were fully declared. His defeat marks a significant setback for the Congress, which now holds only one seat in the Bihar Legislative Council. The three-way contest in this constituency, involving the Congress, Lalu Yadav’s RJD, and the CPM, fragmented the opposition vote, a pattern that has historically benefited the NDA or its allies in Bihar.
The political dynamics in Bihar continue to shift as the grand alliance faces internal fragmentation. In the Patna Teachers’, Patna Graduates’, Darbhanga Graduates’, and Kosi Graduates’ constituencies, the Congress and RJD again found themselves pitted against each other. The RJD, which held no seats, fielded Kumar Raut in Darbhanga Teachers’ after the Congress announced its candidates, while the CPM nominated Ramdev Rai. This intra-Alliance competition has repeatedly weakened their collective strength in upper house elections.
With five of the eight seats likely to go to the NDA, two to Independents, and one to Jan Suraaj, the upper house balance of power in Bihar tilts further toward the ruling coalition. Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj, which recently won a bye-election in the assembly, now has a foothold in the upper house, signaling a growing influence for Kishor’s political strategy. The next phase will focus on the remaining counts and the final tally, which could determine the exact distribution of seats in the council.