Calls sound for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to step aside for Tejashwi Yadav after Kurhani defeat

Patna: Anil Kumar Sahini, a former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator, requested Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, to quit on Friday on "moral grounds" following the loss in the most recent assembly byelections.

"This is not the defeat of 'Mahagathbandhan' but of Nitish Kumar that he lost a seat of RJD but the people of Kurhani taught him a lesson. If there is any morality left in Nitish Kumar, he should resign and hand over the Chief Ministership to Tejashwi Yadav," former RJD MLA said.

By defeating the Janata Dal (United) by 3,645 votes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Kurhani Assembly seat.

According to the Election Commission, Manoj Kushwaha Singh of the JD (U) received 73,073 votes, while Kedar Prasad Gupta of the BJP received 76,722 votes to win the by-election.

Sushil Kumar Modi also spoke on the election results on Thursday saying, "After the defeat in Gopalganj and now in Kurhani Assembly Bypoll Nitish Kumar should resign. In the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, Nitish Kumar was reduced to two seats in Bihar and then had to resign, similarly, he should accept that his popularity has decreased."

"Nitish Kumar's core voters are mostly from backward caste and most of them have chosen BJP, though crores of rupees were distributed the day before polling night and yet JDU lost the election," Sushil Modi told ANI on December 8, ANI reported.

According to him, the Kurhani byelection results demonstrate that the Grand Alliance has lost support in the State, particularly under Nitish Kumar's direction. "Now people want change and Nitish Kumar should understand the time and resign from his post," he reiterated.

Up until 5 p.m. on Monday, the Kurhani assembly seat in Bihar saw a 57.90% voter turnout, according to data from the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Following the formation of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, these elections marked the first time that both parties were in direct competition with one another, and the BJP registered a resounding victory here. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) both participated in the contest to mark a victory for BJP at the Kurhani seat on Monday.

These elections were spurred by the disqualification of RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani from his position due to fraud.

Anil Kumar Sahani, a Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MP from Bihar, and others were charged in the alleged LTC scam that surfaced in 2013, and the investigation team said that they were responsible for a loss to the exchequer of Rs 23.71 lakh.

Along with Sahani, other people named in the CBI charge sheet were Arvind Tiwari, N S Nair, who was the Office Superintendent (Traffic) for Air India at the time, and Anup Singh Panwar. The charge sheet was submitted at the designated CBI court under several provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and abuse of official position.

According to the CBI, it was discovered during the inquiry that Sahani, in collusion with other individuals, allegedly utilised counterfeit e-tickets and bogus boarding cards to defraud Rajya Sabha of Rs 23.71 lakh as travel and dearness allowance reimbursement without making the actual trip.

Sahani and others were accused by the CBI of defrauding the government by allegedly requesting reimbursement from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat using fake airline tickets and boarding permits. The CBI received a referral for the case from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).