The Bihar politics on Friday witnessed an abrupt development after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Abhishek Kumar Sinha, popularly known as 'Bunty', withdrew his candidature from the Bankipur byelection race. And just moments after that, the saffron party declared that Neeraj Kumar Sinha will be its new candidate for the bypoll, which was necessitated after BJP national president Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha.
The unexpected turn of events left everyone confused in Bihar. Officially, Sinha said he pulled out of the byelection because of 'family reasons'. Sinha, who had filed his nomination just a day earlier, said he would continue working for the BJP as a party worker.
"Because of family reasons, I am unable to contest the bypoll. But, I will continue to work for the party as a committed worker. I have conveyed the same to state president Sanjay Saraogi," Sinha said at a press conference.
But sources have told India TV that there more to just 'family reasons' behind Sinha's decision to pull out. According to them, the BJP made the last-minute changes because of his family's connection to the fodder scam.
They said Sinha's father Ravindra Prasad, who worked as a manager at the Magadh Chemicals Corporation, is a convict in the fodder scam. He was accused of conspiring with government officials to siphon off public funds through fake bills.
Prasad was among the 75 people convicted by a CBI court in 2022 in the fodder scam. The CBI had also filed three chargesheets between 2001 and 2003, and Prasad was named as one of the accused. For this, he was sentenced to three years in prison, sources told India TV.
Other than this, Sinha also concealed information regarding his educational qualification while filing his nominations for the byelections. In his nomination papers, he declared he is a 10th pass, but there were some discrepancies in this as well, promoting the BJP to make the last-minute changes and avoid a risk before the byelections, sources added.
The polling for the Bankipur byelection will take place on July 30 and results would be declared on August 3.
Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor's decision to contest has made the byelection interesting. The former poll strategist is confident of winning Bankipur, which remains a bastion of the BJP. However, the BJP seems to be sure of retaining this seat. Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has fielded Rekha Kumari Gupta, who was also party's candidate in the 2025 Bihar elections from Bankipur.
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