RJD leads by over 34,000 votes in Bihar's Jokihat Assembly seat
Patna, May 31: The opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is set to wrest an Assembly seat from the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in Bihar where it was leading by over 34,000 votes, officials said on Thursday.
After trailing in the initial round of counting, the RJD established a comfortable lead of over 31,000 against JD-U in the bypolls to the Jokihat Assembly seat in Bihar on Thursday, according to the Election Commission officials.
After 20 rounds of the ongoing ballot counting, RJD candidate Shahbawaz Alam established a comfortable lead over JD-U's Murshid Alam.
The Jokikhat seat fell vacant following the resignation of JD-U MLA Sarfaraz Alam, who joined the RJD.
Voting for the seat took place on Monday.
The JD-U was backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the RJD had the support of the Congress and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Jokihat is a Muslim-dominated Assembly constituency, considered as a stronghold of former Union Minister and Shahnawaz Alam's father Mohammad Taslimuddin, who died last year leading to bypolls in Araria Lok Sabha seat.
This is for the second time this year the RJD contested polls in the absence of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who was jailed after being convicted in fodder scam case.
At present, Lalu Prasad is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mumbai following provisional bail.
The RJD, under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, former Deputy Chief Minister and younger son of Lalu Prasad, proved again that it has an edge over the JD-U of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Two months ago, the RJD has defeated JD-U in bypolls to Jahanbad assembly seat and bypolls to Araria Lok Sabha seat.
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Two children die after arch collapses during outdoor play in Karnataka
Raichur (Karnataka) (PTI): Two children died on Saturday after a portion of an arch allegedly collapsed on them while they were watching an outdoor play in this district, police said.
The incident occurred in Bail Marchad village in Manvi taluk, they said.
According to police, seven people were sitting under the arch watching the play when the structure suddenly collapsed, killing two children on the spot.
The deceased have been identified as Vishwanath Ramalinga (8) and Sanvita (2).
Vishakshi (25), Lakshmi (18), Vishalakshi (25), Yallamma (3), and Bassamma (45) were injured in the incident and were shifted to Raichur Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital for further treatment, police said.
The bodies have been moved to the mortuary of Manvi Government Hospital, they added.
A case has been registered at Manvi Police Station, and further investigation is underway, police said.
