Patna/Muzaffarpur, Dec 10 (PTI) Former teachers' union leader Banshi Dhar Brijwasi, whom the Bihar government had dismissed from service earlier this year, on Tuesday won from the state legislative council's Tirhut Graduates constituency.

The by-election, which he fought as an Independent, was necessitated by the resignation of senior JD(U) leader Devesh Chandra Thakur, who is now the MP from Sitamarhi.

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JD(U) candidate Abhishek Jha was humbled, finishing fourth in a multi-cornered contest.

Brijwasi had been dismissed from service in July for taking part in an anti-government protest.

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Voters of four districts of the Tirhut division -- Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sitamarhi and Sheohar, had exercised their franchise in the by-poll in which Vinayak Gautam, candidate of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, finished the runner up.

RJD candidate Gopi Kishan, whom the party had fielded in a bid to woo a section of the Vaishyas, stood third in terms of votes polled.

Altogether 18 candidates had entered the fray, including Rakesh Raushan, a former Lok Janshakti Party leader who had declared that he was throwing his hat in the ring, as an Independent, to fulfil the dreams of late party founder Ram Vilas Paswan.

This had led the late leader's son and political successor Chirag Paswan, a Union minister who heads Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), to formally declare support to Jha, in a bid to allay misgivings in the JD(U) camp.

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