New Delhi: Shashant Shekhar, the Congress candidate from Patna Sahib, pitted against BJP’s Ratnesh Kushwaha, is trailing by 18,000-plus votes after 16 rounds of counting.
Kushwaha is leading with 67,154 votes at 1.25 pm while Shekhar’s tally stands at 48,519 votes.
Patna Sahib is an urban constituency, which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has held as its stronghold for decades. Formed after delimitation in 2008, its first election was held in 2010. Previously, the area was known as Patna East.
Hoping to garner the support of the youth as well as keeping the caste combinations in mind, the Mahagathbandhan fielded Shekhar, an IIT-IIM graduate, did civil engineering from IIT Delhi in 2014 and management from IIM Calcutta in 2017.
The 34-year-old later worked with political consultancy firms like Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC and Inclusive Minds before taking the plunge into politics with the view that youth should be more active in politics.
On the other hand, BJP’s Kushwaha, a 45-year-old advocate, had represented the Centre in a case before the Patna High Court related to an AI-generated video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mother, Heeraben.
Considered close to former deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, Kushwaha has been associated with the BJP for quite some time.
The Patna High Court had found the video flagged by Kushwaha to be defamatory and derogatory. It had then issued directions to the Congress party to remove it from all social media platforms.
The Mahagathbandhan had made employment a central theme of its campaign while also targeting the National Democratic Alliance for not doing enough for the youth of Bihar, something which Shekhar had highlighted in his campaign.
Caste, too, played a decisive role in this constituency. While the Vaishya community dominates the constituency, SC voters constitute over 12 percent of the electorate, OBCs make up a large chunk at around 54 percent (Yadavs, Kurmis, and Kushwahas), with EBCs being 11 percent and Muslims around 13 percent. Upper castes constitute around 8 percent.
Days before polling, PM Narendra Modi had held a roadshow in Patna, urging people to vote for the NDA. The seat is considered a traditional stronghold of the party, and the BJP, by replacing its seven-term MLA and Bihar Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, had hoped to address the issue of anti-incumbency while also giving a chance to young leaders.
(Edited by Tony Rai)