CP Thakur swept away in RJD tide
If Chandrababu was uprooted by a cyclone in the coastal state of Andhra, two NDA titans?CP Thakur and Nitish Kumar?were swamped by a mini wave called the RJD in the Patna and Barh parliamentary seats.
If Chandrababu Naidu was uprooted by a cyclone in the coastal state of Andhra Pradesh, two National Democratic Alliance titans—CP Thakur and Nitish Kumar—were swamped by a mini wave called the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the Patna and Barh parliamentary seats. The duo was made to lick dust by old foes Ram Kripal Yadav and Vijay Krishna, respectively.
For Vijay Krishna, it proved to be fourth time lucky. He had lost to Nitish in 1996, 1998 and 1999. The portly, bearded gentleman finally defeated railway minister Nitish Kumar by a margin of over 37,688 votes. Krishna polled 4,26,856 votes against Nitish’s 3,89,168.
Ram Kripal, on the other hand, defeated union minister for small-scale industries and three-time MP from Patna CP Thakur by 38,562 votes. Yadav polled 4,33,853 votes against Thakur’s 3,95,291.
The counting for Patna parliamentary constituency had progressed at a snail’s pace, even as the result for the Barh seat was declared by 3:30 pm. Till just about the same time, results of only seven rounds had been declared for the Patna seat, wherein RJD candidate Ram Kripal Yadav was leading over his nearest rival BJP candidate CP Thakur by barely 268 votes. The BJP candidate had got 1,51,142 votes against 1,51,410 votes polled in favour of Yadav.
HUMDINGER: In the initial rounds, it appeared to be a ding-dong contest for the prestigious Patna seat. Thakur established an early lead of 2,000 votes over Yadav. However, Yadav, in the subsequent round, not only reduced the deficit, but also established a lead of over 6,849 votes. The close fight between the two continued in the subsequent rounds as well and Thakur managed to narrow the lead from 2,780 at the end of the sixth round to 268 at the end of the seventh round. But by the 14th round, Ram Kripal looked set to upset Thakur’s applecart, as he had established a lead of over 25,000 votes. Thereafter, it was no looking back for him as the RJD candidate surged ahead to the victory post.
Earlier, the counting of votes started at 8 am on Thursday. Even though the first round of counting for the Barh parliamentary constituency was over within an hour, its result was officially announced only after two hours. Thereafter, round-wise results continued to pour in at regular intervals for the Barh seat. In sharp contrast, the leading position at the end of the first round for Patna seat was announced at 11.30 am. The reasons attributed for the tardy pace was the large number of candidates in fray for the seat and the malfunctioning of the computer for the Patna (east) segment.
For the Barh seat, Vijay Krishna established an early lead at the end of the first round. But, the railway minister soon wiped out the deficit and surged ahead by 3,498 votes at the end of the third round. Though the margin narrowed down in subsequent rounds, he maintained the lead till the eighth round. By the end of the tenth round, Nitish had established a lead of over 9,000 votes. However, from 11th round onwards, the pendulum swung in favour of Krishna as Nitish’s lead whittled down. By the end of the penultimate (16th) round, the tables had turned on Nitish and Krishna had established an unassailable lead of over 33,353 votes.
The counting for the final round of Barh seat was over by 1.30 pm, but the result was withheld till 3:30 pm as the returning officer waited for the election commission’s nod to declare it.
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Ramkripal’s supporters in upbeat mood
The mood was upbeat. They could not hide their emotions even before the result was declared. Supporters of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) started celebrating in their own inimitable style. What was fearsome for the onlookers was apparently child’s play for these ‘men in green’, as they fired gunshots on the busy Boring Road and blasted crackers.
Lathi-wielding RJD men danced on the roads much before Ramkripal Yadav was officially declared the winner.
The stretch between the counting centre at A N College and Boring Road roundabout turned ‘green’ as euphoric RJD supporters played Holi with green gulal and waved party flags.
Cops turned a blind eye to the ‘mega-celebrations’. Some of them, however, willingly mingled with the crowd, shared the joy and accepted sweets from the supporters.
Ramkripal, however, remained locked inside the polling station waiting for the final declaration of the result. The final result came late in the evening. Ramkripal waited patiently with his trusted supporters in a lone corner of the college while his supporters went mad with joy. (HTC)