New Delhi: In his first electoral contest, Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Osama Shahab raced past his Janata Dal (United) rival Vikash Kumar Singh to record a decisive victory in in Raghunathpur constituency of Siwan.
Osama’s win marks the first polling success for the Shahabuddin family since 2004.
According to assembly election results declared by the Election Commission Friday, Osama won by a margin of 9,248 votes over Kumar. Jan Suraaj Party’s Rahul Kirti came in third, having clinched just 3,000-odd votes.
A victory for Osama delivers on RJD’s controversial decision to reconcile with the family of Mohammad Shahabuddin, the late Siwan MP whose political legacy was tainted by conviction and imprisonment. It was also a silver lining for a party whose tally fell to 25 seats, out of the 143 that it contested from, this election — a strike rate of mere 17%. In 2020, RJD had won 75 constituencies in the 243-seat Assembly.
Shahabuddin last won an election in 2004 – his fourth consecutive Lok Sabha term from Siwan. In 2007, he was sentenced to life in jail for abduction and murder of CPI(ML) worker Chhote Lal Gupta.
With Shahabuddin barred from contesting elections, his wife Hena Shahab fought the Lok Sabha election on RJD symbol in 2009 and 2014, but lost both the times.
Shahabuddin died while he was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail during the pandemic. After that, Hena Shahab contested national elections as an independent candidate, and lost a third time. Still, she polled over three lakh votes—predominantly from the traditional voter base of Lalu Yadav’s RJD.
Months later, RJD welcomed the mother-son duo back into the party fold.
But Osama’s candidature immediately drew criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party, with senior leaders invoking “jungle raj”—a term they had used in the past to describe alleged lawlessness during Lalu Prasad’s tenure as Bihar chief minister.
While campaigning ahead of assembly elections this year, Home Minister Amit Shah attacked RJD’s decision, declaring: “Osama ko nahi jeetne denge, Shahabuddin ki vichaardhara ko nahi jeetne denge (Won’t allow Osama to win, same goes for Shahabuddin’s thinking).”
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also claimed in rallies that Osama’s victory would represent a defeat for Hindus.
But Mahagathbandhan steadfastly backed Osama. RJD leader and the alliance’s chief minister candidate Tejashwi Yadav actively campaigned for Osama, and in one rally, invited him to address the crowd—in optics that drew loud cheers from supporters.
Also Read: Bihar assembly election results