NEW DELHI: Tej Pratap Yadav, founder of the Janshakti Janata Dal and candidate from Mahua, has fallen to fourth place in early trends as counting begins for the Bihar Assembly Elections. According to the Election Commission, LJP (Ram Vilas) candidate Sanjay Kumar Singh is leading with 12,897 votes, ahead of RJD’s Mukesh Kumar Raushan who has secured 8,794 votes. AIMIM’s Amit Kumar is in third place with 4,569 votes, while Tej Pratap Yadav trails with 2,121 votes.Earlier in the morning, Tej Pratap Yadav inspected the strong room at Raj Narain College in Hajipur. Speaking to reporters after his visit, he said, “I inspected the strong room. The arrangements are good…”His comments came amid controversy surrounding an “inflammatory” statement issued by RJD leader Sunil Kumar Singh, who had warned election officials against any attempt to manipulate the mandate. Reacting sharply, Tej Pratap dismissed him saying, “He is a ‘faltu aadmi’, there is no value in what he speaks…”An FIR has been registered against Sunil Singh under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Representation of the People Act, and the IT Act for his remarks. Singh had told ANI that “many RJD candidates were forcibly defeated in 2020” and warned that attempts to alter the mandate could lead to unrest similar to “the scenes witnessed on the roads in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.”Vote counting for all 243 Bihar Assembly seats is underway today, with results expected by the evening, marking the conclusion of a month-long election cycle. This election is the first in two decades to be held after a Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls.Exit polls have predicted a return of the National Democratic Alliance. In the 2020 election, the NDA won 125 seats compared to the Mahagathbandhan’s 110. Within the NDA, JD(U) contested 115 seats and won 43, while the BJP bagged 74 of the 110 seats it fought. In the Mahagathbandhan, the RJD won 75 of its 144 seats and the Congress secured 19 out of 70.
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