Bankipur defeat hits BJP leadership in Bihar & Delhi; big blow to chief Nitin Nabin

New Delhi: The loss in Bankipur is a setback for the BJP leadership in Bihar and Delhi, especially because the person who won the constituency for five consecutive terms was asked to lead the party as national president. Bankipur was Nitin Nabin family’s pocket borough, where his father Navin Sinha won five times. After becoming party president, Nabin led the party to victory in the West Bengal assembly polls. BJP got its own CM in Bihar in April, replacing Nitish Kumar with Samrat Choudhary.

Since it was a seat represented by the party chief, Nabin had the freedom to choose a candidate and plan the campaign. The party first announced Abhishek Sinha as the candidate and he also filed his nomination papers. He was endorsed strongly by Nabin as a son of the soil. However, there were murmurs within the party over his candidature and he withdrew his nomination. In a hurry, BJP announced Neeraj Sinha, a Mandal president, as the party candidate.

Throughout the campaign, BJP tried to highlight that the party has given a chance to a small-time worker to contest from the seat vacated by the party president. The entire NDA leadership of Bihar campaigned in Bankipur. More than 60 MLAs, MPs and state ministers were deployed. An appeal from former CM Nitish Kumar to vote in favour of BJP was also circulated during the campaign. Nabin camped for more than a week, connected with workers and voters through phone and meetings.
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The loss came as a big shock. For the first time since 1995, the vote share of BJP came down to 34%. Votes swung in favour of Prashant Kishor, throwing to the winds all political calculations of BJP which has a strong ground network. BJP banks on winning booths to win elections. However, senior BJP leaders lost their booths in Bankipur. This result would certainly haunt Nabin for a long time.