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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained its grip on the Patna Sahib Assembly seat, with first-time candidate Ratnesh Kushwaha defeating Congress’s Shashant Shekhar in a keenly watched contest between two debutants.

The Patna Sahib contest featured two fresh faces this election. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded 45-year-old lawyer Ratnesh Kushwaha, replacing one of its veteran leaders, 72-year-old Nand Kishore Yadav, who had represented the seat for years. The Congress, meanwhile, put its faith in debutant Shashant Shekhar, a 35-year-old IIT-IIM graduate, hoping to energise its campaign with new leadership and youthful appeal.

High Turnout Signals Intense Contest

Voting in Patna Sahib took place during the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections, witnessing a turnout of 59.93 per cent, a significant rise from the 52.22 per cent recorded in the previous polls. The higher voter participation underscored heightened political engagement in one of the state’s most high-profile constituencies.

A BJP Bastion with a History of Tight Battles

Patna Sahib, a General category constituency, has long been a stronghold of the BJP, which has consistently fended off challenges from the Congress and other opposition parties.

In the 2020 Assembly elections, senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav secured a comfortable victory with 97,692 votes (51.91 per cent), defeating the Congress’s Pravin Singh, who garnered 79,392 votes (42.19 per cent). The winning margin stood at 18,300 votes.

Five years earlier, in 2015, Yadav faced a much closer fight against the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Santosh Mehta, winning by just 2,792 votes. He had then received 88,108 votes (46.89 per cent), compared with Mehta’s 85,316 (45.40 per cent).