Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, which pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and contested nearly 150 seats, managed to win just one. Though the LJP itself paid a big price in the process, it suceeded in damaging Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JDU by playing a major role in its poor show in many seats. The LJP has been instrumental in the JDU's loss in at least 30 seats. The party's final vote share was pegged at 5.66 per cent.
Matihani was the only seat where the LJP won. That too with a close margin of just 333 votes. LJP candidate Raj Kumar Singh secured 61,364 votes against JDU's Narendra Kumar Singh who followed with 61,031 votes. Rajendra Prasad Singh of the Communist Party of India stood third with 59,875 in the close race.
Meanwhile, there were a number of other seats including Bachhwara, Barbigha, Bhorey, Dehri, Hilsa and Ramgarh, where the winning margin was less than 500 votes.
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In Bachhwara, Surendra Mehata of the BJP won with 54,738 votes against CPI's Abdhesh Kumar Rai who secured 54,254 votes. Here, the margin was just 484.
In Barbigha, Sudarshan Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) emerged victorious over Congress candidate Gajanand Shahi by only 113 votes. Shahi secured 39,765 votes as opposed to Kumar's 39,878. Here, the Lok Janshakti Party received 18,930 votes.
Bhorey saw a margin of 462 votes. About 74,067 votes were polled in favour of JDU's Sunil Kumar while CPI's Jitendra Paswan received 73,605 votes. The LJP got 4,520 votes.
In Dehri, the margin between two top contendors was just 464. Phate Bahadur Singh of the RJD won with 64,567 votes against BJP rival Satyanarayan Singh who secured 64,103 votes.
Hilsa witnessed the lowest margin. Here, the difference between two candidates was just about 12 votes. JDU's Krishnamurari Sharan alias Prem Mukhiya received 61,848 votes against RJD's Atri Muni alias Shakti Singh Yadav who followed with 61,836 votes. The LJP secured 17,471 votes.
In Ramgarh, the margin squeezed to 189. Sudhakar Singh of the RJD got 58,083 votes while Bahujan Samaj Party's Ambika Singh secured 57,894 votes.
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