Elections 98

State:	Bihar
Constituency:	Barh
Total Votes Polled:	757799
Winner: SAP	Nitish Kumar	356836
Runner Up: RJD	Vijoy Krishan	341646
Margin: 15190 (4%)

Elections 96

State:	Bihar
Constituency:	Barh
Total Votes Polled:	707618
Winner: SAP	Nitish Kumar	360156
Runner Up: JD	Vijay Krishan	295302
Margin: 64854 (9.27%)

Tarakeshwari Sinha -- the stormy petrel of the 1960s -- was elected from here in the first three general elections of 1957, 1962 and 1967. More recently, Nitish Kumar was first elected from here in 1989 as a Laloo confidant, retained his seat and position, but when it was time for the 1996 election he was ranged against his former friend. He had broken away and formed the Samata Party in the meantime. In fact, the 1996 election was a test of strength between the two former friends, and Laloo's man came off poorly, losing by around 65,000 votes.