Elections 98

State:	Bihar
Constituency:	Purnea
Total Votes Polled:	711660
Winner: BJP	Jay Krishna Mandal	265096
Runner Up: SP	Rajesh Ranjan	229279
Margin: 35817 (14%)

Elections 96

State:	Bihar
Constituency:	Purnea
Total Votes Polled:	679646
Winner: SP	Rajesh Ranjan	443111
Runner Up: BJP	Rajendra Pd. Gupta	126956
Margin: 316155 (47.08%)

The 1991 election was countermanded owing to violence, thus ensuring the constituency's place in electoral history. In 1996, it returned the Samajwadi Party's Rajesh Ranjan 'Pappu' Yadav, who defeated his nearest BJP rival by 317,000 votes.