Samastipur Bypoll Results 2019: Paswan’s Nephew Prince Raj Leads Congress’ Ashok Kumar

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate Prince Raj, nephew of Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, was ahead of the Congress’ Ashok Kumar as votes were counted on Thursday in the Samastipur Lok Sabha by-election in Bihar. The Election Commission was declaring results for the seat together with five assembly constituencies in the state.

Why the bypoll was held

The Samastipur seat, reserved for Scheduled Castes, fell vacant after the death of sitting LJP MP Ramchandra Paswan, the younger brother of the party’s founder. Prince Raj, his son, was making his first run for office, and the LJP hoped he would take over his father’s seat. Ashok Kumar, the sitting Congress MLA from Rosera, had lost to Ramchandra Paswan in both 2014 and 2019.

Before the 2008 delimitation, the constituency was called Rosera (SC). Ramchandra Paswan won it twice, in 1999 for the JD(U) and in 2004 for the LJP.

Turnout and the campaign

Polling was held on October 21 for Samastipur and for five assembly seats: Kishanganj, Nathnagar, Belhar, Daraunda and Simri Bakhtiyarpur. Turnout in Samastipur was 45 per cent, compared with 60.63 per cent in the 2019 general election, while the five assembly seats recorded 49.26 per cent.

During the campaign, Prince Raj spoke about the work done by his father as MP and his uncle as minister, and asked for a chance to finish it. Ashok Kumar asked voters for their “blessings”, arguing that Samastipur needed someone who could speak up for it in the Lok Sabha. BJP leaders including Union minister Nityanand Rai campaigned for Prince Raj, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi were due to address a rally for him.

The assembly seats

The NDA, made up of the JD(U), BJP and LJP, held Samastipur and every assembly seat in the bypolls except Kishanganj, which the Congress won in 2015. The alliance had won 39 of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Relatives of former incumbents were fielded in most seats: in Daraunda the JD(U) put up Ajay Singh, whose wife Kavita Singh is now the Siwan MP, and Laldhari Yadav, brother of Banka MP Giridhari Yadav, in Belhar. It also fielded Arun Kumar in Simri Bakhtiyarpur and Laxmikant Mandal in Nathnagar. The Congress nominated 72-year-old debutant Sayeeda Bano, mother of Mohd Javed, whose main rival is the BJP’s Sweety Singh, runner-up in 2015.

See also: constituency pages and more election news.

Originally published on 24 October 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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