The BJP and the Congress on Thursday retained the Godda and Panki Assembly seats respectively where by-polls were held on May 16. BJP’s Amit Mandal defeated RJD’s Sanjay Yadav by 34,551 votes on the Godda seat, election officials said. From Panki, Congress’s Devendra Kumar Singh defeated JMM candidate Kushwaha Shashibhusan Mehta by 3,558 votes, Returning Officer Albert Bilung said.
The seats fell vacant after the demise of Bidesh Singh (Congress-Panki) and Raghunandan Mandal (BJP-Godda).