The campaigning for three closely-tracked bye-elections in Bihar’s Bankipur, Madhya Pradesh’s Datia and Gujarat’s Manjalpur, to be held on July 30, ended on Tuesday with last-minute canvassing for votes and parties holding rallies and roadshows.
In Bankipur, located in Patna’s urban area, the stage is set for a keenly watched contest among the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) youth wing leader, Neeraj Kumar Sinha, political strategist-turned-leader, Prashant Kishor, from the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Rekha Gupta.
The poll was triggered by the election of five-term MLA and BJP national president Nitin Nabin to the Rajya Sabha in April.
Kishor has been the talk of the constituency, personally canvassing nearly every street and lane. He framed the contest as a referendum on the NDA government’s performance, particularly targeting chief minister Samrat Choudhary, whom the BJP leadership chose as CM after Nitish Kumar stepped down.
Nabin returned to his constituency to campaign, assuring voters that “Bankipur shall remain his top priority” despite new responsibilities.
In MP’s Datia, the BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari is contesting for the first time while Congress party veteran, Kunwar Ghanshyam Singh, has entered the fray for the seventh time.
The assembly seat fell vacant on April 2, after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti was disqualified under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution, following his conviction in a bank scam case.
The campaign for Datia ended in the backdrop of internal dissent for both parties. The BJP faced violent protests in Datia after replacing former home minister Narottam Mishra with Tiwari as the candidate.
Mishra himself had to appeal to voters to support Tiwari after three dozen BJP workers and supporters were booked for rioting, vandalism, attacking government servants and violating the model code of conduct following protests earlier in July.
A senior BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said on Tuesday: “For the BJP, the contest has become more than a fight for one seat – it is a test for organisational unity.”
The Congress, meanwhile, saw internal discontent as disqualified MLA Rajendra Bharti pressed for a ticket for his family while senior leader Awadesh Nayak, who defected from the BJP before the 2023 Assembly election, was also in contention.
The Manjalpur seat in Gujarat’s Vadodara fell vacant following the death of BJP MLA Yogesh Patel, a legislator since 1990. First from Raopura and then Manjalpur – Patel won eight terms in all, and had served as the Assembly’s protem Speaker in 2022 and as a minister of state.
While the BJP fielded Satish Patel as its candidate, former minister Bhikhabhai Rabari has been fielded by the Congress party.
