For the Bihar Assembly Elections that are just days away, the Patna Sahib constituency will see an electoral fight between two new candidates.
While the BJP is fielding 45-year-old Ratnesh Kumar (also known as Ratnesh Khushwaha), Congress is looking to 34-year-old, Shashant Shekhar, to win the Patna Sahib constituency, which has been a BJP stronghold since 2010.
With just six days left for voting, the Patna Sahib constituency is gearing up for a highly contested assembly election with the two new candidates in the electoral fray, although BJPโs Nand Kishore Yadav, the current Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, has been representing the constituency all these years.
However, Yadav is not contesting this time, having not received a ticket from the party. The introduction of a new face could make the elections a close contest with no single candidate having an established base in the constituency.
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Khushwaha is also known to be a close confidant of the stateโs Deputy Chief Minister, Samrat Chaudhary. The former declared an income of โน5,09,650 for the financial year 2024-2025.
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Shekhar declared an income of โน11,94,260 for the financial year 2024-2025.
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The Patna Sahib constituency consists of the Yadav, Kurmi and Baniya communities, with the Baniyas largely seen to be voting for the NDA.
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In 2020, the constituency had a voting percentage of 52.25 per cent (1,88,259) from an electorate of more than 3.6 lakh people.
It will vote in the first phase of the elections on November 6, while the second phase of the elections will happen on November 11. The counting of votes is set to occur on November 14