PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Tuesday retained the reserved Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seat, defeating the nearest rival, of Lalu Prasad's RJD, by a comfortable margin of more than 12,000 votes.
JD(U)'s Aman Bhushan Hazari, the death of whose father had necessitated the by-election, polled 58,882 votes.
RJD candidate Ganesh Bharti secured 47,184 votes.
Meanwhile, in Tarapur, where the bypoll was necessitated by the death of Mewa Lal Chaudhary, JD(U) candidate Rajiv Kumar Singh is trailing behind RJD's Arun Kumar Sah by a slender margin of less than 2,000 votes.
Counting of votes in Tarapur is taking place at a slow speed, with only 14 out of 29 rounds complete by 3 pm.