Elections 98

State:	Bihar
Constituency:	Bettiah
Total Votes Polled:	698,213
Winner: BJP	Madan Prasad Jaiswal	301,388
Runner Up: RJD	Motiurrahman	259,487
Margin: 41,901 (14%)

Elections 96

State:	Bihar
Constituency:	Bettiah
Total Votes Polled:	631,754
Winner: BJP	Madan Prasad Jaiswal	315,899
Runner Up: JD	Nasim Ahmad	264,410
Margin: 51,489 (8.24%)

The Congress's share of votes in the 1996 election: just 3.19 pc. In the previous elections, which the Janata Dal had won, the BJP had come a close second, and by 1996 it had managed to overhaul Laloo's outfit.