PATNA, Oct. 29 -- The legislative council election are often low-key but this time they were a high-stakes battle for 8 graduates' and teachers' seats in Bihar. Intra-party feuds and rebellions turned them into a watched out showdown and as the results trickled till late on Wednesday, the outcome meant different for each party. The highlight of the election was a run-in between two JD(U) leaders -- Mokama MLA Anant Singh and party's three-time MLC Neeraj Kumar. Singh was adamant to see Neeraj lose and backed a rival party candidate and endured expulsion from the party for the same, but Neeraj prevailed in the end. His victory, however, is the sole success of JD(U) of the four seats it contested. The party had fielded Abhishek Jha again from Tirhut graduate seat, but lost the second time in a row. From the two teachers' constituencies of Saran and Darbhanga, two of its candidates Anand Pushkar and Ghanshyam Rai lost. JD(U)'s partner in NDA, BJP, on the other hand, won three of the four seats it contested, but it lost its bastion Patna Teachers' seat, which Nawal Kishor Yadav has been representing since 1996 when he defeated late PN Sharma amid allegations of bogus voting. In a surprise, BJP rebel and independent candidate Rahul Raj won the Saran Teachers seat where JD(U)'s Anand Pushkar was the NDA nominee and last time's winner Afaque Ahmad was contesting on Jan Suraaj ticket. BJP's Dr Narendra Singh bagged the Tirhut teachers' seat and was the first to be declared winner, while Sarvesh Kumar and NK Yadav bagged the Kosi and Darbhanga graduates' seats. Of the eight seats, independents had won three seats in 2020, BJP two, while one seat each was with the JD(U), Congress and the CPI. This time, the overall tally for the NDA has improved with four seats and if the rebel also joins, it would be five, but Congress and CPI have drawn a blank. RJD won the prestigious Patna teachers' seat, where former MLA Dr Sanjiv Kumar won. Jan Suraaj Party of Prashant Kishor made its presence felt by opening its account in the Darbhanga teachers' constituency, where Suresh Prasad Rai proved to be a giant-killer defeating former Bihar Congress president and two-term MLC Madan Mohan Jha. For Jan Suraaj Party, it was another big win after party founder won the Bankipore assembly bypoll necessitated by the elevation of BJP national president Nitin Nabin to the Rajya Sabha. Now the party has one seat each in both the Houses of Bihar Legislature. A significant aspect of this legislative council election was that the incumbent MLCs on four of the eight seats lost. Left's sitting MLC Sanjay Kumar Singh lost from Tirhut, while Congress's incumbent MLC Madan Mohan Jha lost the Darbhanga teachers' seat. In the Saran teachers' constituency, sitting MLC Afaq Ahmad, contesting on Jan Suraaj ticket, lost, while on Patna teachers seat, 30-year reign of Nawal Kishor Yadav ended. Experts, however, see the election as a downsizing of the JD(U), as it could win only one seat against BJP's three, which may be reflection of fading influence of former CM Nitish Kumar due to his less involvement in political activities. "One of the reasons may be that the party got entangled in the Anant Singh vs Neeraj Kumar fight to lose focus from other seats. With Nitish Kumar's son health minister Nishant Kumar joining the campaigning for Neeraj, it seemed to have become a prestige issue for the party, as a loss here would have raised a big question mark. On the other hand, BJP seems to be gaining from polarisation, which the opposition is contributing more in his favour," said political analyst NK Choudhary. Choudhary said that the loss of Patna teachers' seat could be attributed to anti-incumbency factor, as BJP's Nawal Kishor Yadav held the seat since 1996. "Overall, BJP seems to be a gainer in a state where it is still to find a way to form government on its own," he added. The pre-election announcement of giving pay-scale to teachers in unaided institutions and release of Rs.461-crore grant-in-aid for payment of long pending salary may have also worked," he said....