BJP Wins Patna Assembly By-Election

NEW DELHI, 28 April 2006 — The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-JP combine yesterday retained the Patna West assembly seat as its nominee Nitin Navin trounced the RJD-backed Congress candidate Rana Ajay Singh by a margin of over 65,000 votes, in the first by-election held since NDA came to power in Bihar about five months ago. Navin got 76,025 votes, while his nearest rival Singh secured 10,858 votes and lost his security deposit. The election to the seat was held following the death of BJP deputy Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha.