Independent candidate Shankar Singh wins Rupauli bypoll in Bihar's Purnea

Purnea: Independent candidate Shankar Singh won the Rupauli assembly bypoll in Bihar’s Purnea district on Saturday, defeating NDA nominee Kaladhar Prasad Mandal of the JD(U) by a margin of 8,246 votes.

The independent candidate got about 68,070 votes while JD(U)’s nominee bagged 59,824 votes, according to the Election Commission website.

RJD's Bima Bharti was in the third position as she secured 30,619 votes.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who had won the seat for JD(U) several times but quit the party recently to contest the Lok Sabha election on an RJD ticket.

Following her loss in the parliamentary election, she contested the bypoll as an RJD candidate.