Lok Sabha election result: BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy leads in Bihar's Saran seat, RJD's Rohini Acharya trails

Former union minister and BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy is leading in the Saran seat in Bihar, inching to retain RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's legacy seat for the third straight term. Follow Lok Sabha election LIVE updates

According to the Election Commission data, Rudy is leading by 1,918 votes against RJD candidate and Lalu Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya.

Saran, the constituency formed in 2008, went to the polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Lalu Yadav won the seat. However, he stepped down in 2014 after he was convicted in the fodder scam and was barred from contesting elections. Following this, his wife Rabri Devi contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the Saran seat but lost to BJP's Rudy.

Rudy managed to retain the seat in 2019 as well, defeating RJD's Chandrika Roy.

Rudy is a four-time MP representing the BJP. He began his political journey in 1989 as a campaign manager of Harmohan Dhawan, who contested from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency. Rudy was also associated with former prime minister Chandra Shekhar.

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The BJP leader was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 after winning from Bihar's Chapra constituency and went on to retain the seat in 1999. He also served as the minister of state for commerce, trade, and industry and the civil aviation minister with independent charge in 2001.

In 2014, he was appointed minister of state (independent charge) for skill development and entrepreneurship and also shared the parliamentary affairs department jointly with union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. In May 2021, Rudy was massively criticised when 30 unused ambulances were found parked at his Amnour Vishw-Prabha community centre, as Bihar was struggling under the Covid-19 pandemic.