BJP wins Bihar’s Gopalganj bypolls, Asaduddin Owasi may have shaped victory
BJP candidate Kusum Devi may have won the Gopalganj by-election by a narrow margin of just 1,794 votes over the RJD candidate, Mohan Prasad Gupta, but the post-result data showed that Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which fielded Abdul Salam, played a crucial role in shaping the BJP’s victory.
According to the Election Commission’s data, AIMIM candidate Abdul Salam polled 12,214 votes — about seven times more than the winning margin of the BJP candidate, Kusum Devi. Devi received 70,053 (41.6%) votes while Mohan Prasad Gupta polled 68,259 (40.53%) votes.
Interestingly, had Owaisi not fielded a candidate in Gopalganj, the BJP would not have managed to win the seat, as the election commission data shows.
Another interesting observation is that RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav was also instrumental in damaging the RJD’s chances. Sadhu Yadav’s wife Indira Yadav contested from Gopalganj on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket and bagged 8,854 (5.26%) votes — about five times more than Kusum Devi’s winning margin.
The Election Commission’s data showed that the AIMIM and the BSP candidates together severely dented the RJD’s votes in the election, helping the BJP march ahead.
In the 2020 assembly elections in Bihar, the AIMIM won five seats in the Seemanchal region — a Muslim-dominated area — damaging the RJD’s poll prospects. Earlier this year, four of the five AIMIM MLAs joined the RJD.
