Chapra: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav today (June 2, 2004) triumphed over his BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) rival Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Chapra Lok Sabha constituency by about 70,000 votes, delivering the final punch on the battered National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to take his party's tally in the Lok Sabha to 24.

Yadav's victory demolished all hopes the NDA might have had of stalling the RJD-led secular alliance's juggernaut with its tally remaining stuck at 11. Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats.

Elections 2004
Political Parties in India

Of the 24 seats in RJD's kitty, Palamu and Chatra are in Jharkhand.

With Yadav's win in Chapra, the secular alliance comprising apart from RJD, the Congress and Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, shot up to 29. While the Congress won three of the four seats it contested, the LJP bagged four of the eight it fought.