Voters cold-shoulder NDA leaders’ children in fray

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has always targeted regional and national parties over dynasty politics, failed to gain victory for the children of the party’s senior leaders in the Bihar Assembly elections.

Among the 10 sons and relatives of politicians who were in the fray, only two managed to register victory in the politically-crucial Assembly elections. The two candidates, in the star kid category who secured victory are – Sanjeev Chaurasia and Rana Randhir Singh.

Chaurasia, who made poll debut, is the son of noted BJP leader Ganga Prasad. He won from the Digha seat by securing 92,671 votes and defeating JD(U)’s Rajeev Ranjan by a margin of 24,779.

Rana Randhir Singh, who had switched loyalty from the  Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to the BJP, is son of senior RJD leader Sitaram Singh. Randhir won from Madhuban seat by  defeating Shivji Rai of JD(U) by a margin of 16,222 votes.

The other leader’s son who tasted defeat, despite organising rallies of BJP’s star campaigners Prime Minister Narendra  Modi and Amit Shah, include Buxar MP Ashwini Choubey’s son Arjit Shaswat. Shaswat lost prestigious Bhagalpur seat by a margin of 30,776 to Ajeet Sharma of RJD. Shaswat’s father has represented Bhagalpur seat several terms.

Another important star kid, who lost is BJP veteran CP Thakur’s son Vivek Thakur. He lost the Brahmpur seat to RJD’s Shambhu Nath Yadav with a margin of 30,776 votes. Thakur fetched only 63,303 votes.

Both the sons of Narendra Singh – Ajoy Singh and Sumit Singh – lost in the poll battle. Ajoy Singh failed to win Jamui seat for the BJP, while Sumit Singh, who was contesting as an independent, failed to retain the Chakai seat.

Nitish Mihsra, son of former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra also lost from Jhanjharpur seat, while Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Kumar Suman also faced a huge defeat from Kutumba (SC) seat. Suman was defeated by Congress’s Rajesh Kumar by a margin of 10,098 votes.

The kin and kith of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) supremo Ram Vilas Paswan also contested to sheer disappointment. Prince Raj, son of LJP chief’s brother and Lok Sabha MP Ram Chandra Paswan, lost his debut battle to JD(U)’s Maheshwar Hazari by 37,686 votes from Kalyanpur seat. 

Besides, Paswan’s brother Pashupati Paras failed to register victory from Alauli seat. Paras was defeated by RJD’s Chandan Kumar by a margin of 24,470 votes.