New Delhi: IIT-IIM graduate Shashant Shekhar, the Congress’ candidate from the Patna Sahib meeting seat in Bihar, did not make a mark within the electoral subject because the BJP’s Ratnesh Kushwaha defeated him by an enormous margin of 38,900 votes.

Kushwaha took lead over Shekhar from the early rounds of counting, main by greater than 67,154 votes at 1.25 pm. Shekhar lined some floor in later rounds however fell method in need of Kumar’s closing tally of 1,30,366 votes. The Congress candidate bought 91,466 votes.

Hoping to garner the assist of the youth in addition to conserving the caste combos in thoughts, the Mahagathbandhan fielded Shekhar, who did civil engineering from IIT Delhi in 2014 and administration from IIM Calcutta in 2017. 

The 34-year-old later labored with the political consultancy companies like Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC and Inclusive Minds earlier than taking the plunge into politics with the view that youth must be extra lively in politics.

Alternatively, the BJP’s Kushwaha, a 45-year-old advocate, had represented the Centre in a case earlier than the Patna Excessive Court docket associated to an AI-generated video that includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mom, Heeraben. 

Thought of near former deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, Kushwaha has been related to the BJP for fairly a while. 

The Patna Excessive Court docket had discovered the video flagged by Kushwaha to be defamatory and derogatory. It had then issued instructions to the Congress social gathering to take away it from all social media platforms. 

The Mahagathbandhan had made employment a central theme of its marketing campaign whereas additionally focusing on the Nationwide Democratic Alliance for not doing sufficient for the youth of Bihar, one thing which Shekhar had highlighted in his marketing campaign.

Caste, too, performed a decisive function on this constituency. Whereas the Vaishya neighborhood dominates the constituency, SC voters represent over 12 p.c of the voters, OBCs make up a big chunk at round 54 p.c (Yadavs, Kurmis, and Kushwahas), with EBCs being 11 p.c and Muslims round 13 p.c. Higher castes represent round 8 p.c. 

Days earlier than polling, PM Narendra Modi had held a roadshow in Patna, urging individuals to vote for the NDA. The seat is taken into account a standard stronghold of the social gathering, and the BJP, by changing its seven-term MLA and Bihar Meeting Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, had hoped to deal with the difficulty of anti-incumbency whereas additionally giving an opportunity to younger leaders. 

(Edited by Tony Rai)