Patna Sahib is easy electoral battleground for BJP

NEW DELHI: BJP aims to continue its winning streak in Patna Sahib in Bihar with Ravi Shankar Prasad, while Congress’ late candidate announcement poses challenges.

Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency is one of the youngest constituencies in Bihar that came into existence in 2008 after delimitation. Since its existence, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has never lost a Lok Sabha election from here and is looking to continue its winning record in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. To achieve this, the BJP has fielded incumbent MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, while the Congress has fielded former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s son Anshul Avijit.

The constituency comprises six assembly segments—Bakhtiarpur, Digha, Bankipur, Kumhrar, Patna Sahib, and Fatuha.

In the 2019 general elections, BJP won in all six assembly segments. However, in the 2020 assembly elections, the BJP won four out of the six seats, the remaining two went to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Political pundits think the BJP will win Patna Sahib as the incumbent MP, Ravi Shankar Prasad, has done a lot of development work in the constituency. He is also very attentive and listens to people’s problems.

In the 2019 general elections, Ravi Shankar Prasad defeated Shatrughan Sinha of the Congress by a margin of 2,84,657 votes. Shatrughan Sinha had won this seat twice in 2009 and 2014 on a BJP ticket.

Congress’ Anshul Avijit is also well known in the constituency, he is working hard to give a strong fight to senior politician Ravi Shankar Prasad, but Congress announced his name late, and due to this, the impact of his campaign seems to have not been at par with BJP’s.

Patna Sahib has a large population of Kayasthas. After Kayasthas, Yadav and Rajput voters dominate here. Kayastha voters in the Patna Sahib seat are inclined in favour of the BJP. Except for Kayasthas, the constituency has a sizeable population of Muslim voters too, and their bent may be towards the Opposition.

Dr. Guru Prakash Paswan, the national spokesperson of the BJP, told The Sunday Guardian, “Patna Sahib is always a friendly seat for us, and we will again win this constituency by an even bigger margin. Our party is seeking votes based on the progress that has been made in infrastructure, transportation, and road development over time. We also constructed a sewage treatment plant to tackle the flood situation that arose a few years ago.

Decongestion happened after the construction of the Marine Drive. We have also developed the intuition to hear for the betterment of the people. So we are fighting on the national agenda, and we are confident of winning the constituency four times in a row.”

Aditya Rathi, a political analyst who observes Bihar politics closely, told The Sunday Guardian that there are lots of anti-incumbencies against Ravi Shankar Prasad, but the BJP will win this seat because of two factors that work in their favour. First is the Modi factor, where voters give their vote on Modi’s face; and second is the caste factor. The constituency is dominated by Kayasthas voters, and BJP candidate Ravi Shankar Prasad comes from the Kayasthas community, so all the Kayasthas votes go in favour of the BJP.

On the other hand, Congress candidate Anshul Avijit didn’t have much impact on the ground, and he was unable to utilise the legacy of his mother Meira Kumar.