Bihar BJP candidate has withdrawn his candidature from Bankipur bypoll

Bihar BJP unit president Sanjay Saraogi (left) welcomes Niraj Kumar Sinha after BJP Central Election Committee nominated him as candidate from Bankipur seat. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

In an embarrassing situation for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Abhishek Kumar alias Bunty withdrew his candidature from the Bankipur assembly poll on Friday (10 July 2026), a day after filing his nomination papers. The BJP candidate submitted a letter of withdrawal to Bihar unit president Sanjay Saraogi.

Soon after the withdrawal, the BJP Central Election Committee announced the name of Neeraj Kumar Sinha as the candidate for the Bankipur bypoll. A resident of Nalanda district, Mr. Sinha has been the Mandal President twice and is currently serving as the Narendra Bharti Mandal President. He also previously held the post of district vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).

Addressing presspersons at the party office, Mr. Bunty said, “I am unable to participate in the Bankipur by-poll due to family reasons and I am grateful to the NDA central and state leadership for allowing me to become a candidate.”

Party insiders said Mr Bunty was considered a weak candidate against Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor.

Mr. Kishor is also said to be in possession of documents related to Mr. Bunty’s dubious financial transactions which forced him to withdraw his name from the election fray. Mr. Kishor will file his nomination on July 13.

Mr. Bunty’s appointment ceremony was attended by many senior National Democratic Alliance (NDA) officials, including Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Janata Dal (United) National Labor President Sanjay Kumar Jha along with Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) President Upendra Kushwaha.

The seat fell vacant after the then BJP MLA Nitin Nabin was first nominated as the party’s national president and was later elected to the Rajya Sabha on 16 April.

a BJP stronghold

The Bankipur assembly constituency in Patna has been a stronghold of the BJP. Mr Nabin won the seat in the 2025 assembly elections for the fifth consecutive term by defeating opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Rekha Kumari by over 51,000 votes. JSP candidate Vandana Kumari finished third in the poll. Mr. Nabin’s father, Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha, held the seat since 1995.

Reacting to the BJP candidate’s withdrawal, Mr. Kishor, who was busy campaigning, told reporters, “There is no power greater than people’s power. Till now people ran away in fear of the BJP, but for the first time justice was served when a BJP candidate ran away.”

He further alleged, “BJP has threatened ED and CBI people or wrongly refused to nominate a candidate. BJP claims that Bankipur is its stronghold and today they are unable to find a candidate to stand and the one who stood ran away.”

The deadline for filing nominations is July 13, and so far 17 candidates have filed their nominations, including the opposition ŘJD candidate Rekha Gupta. Voting will take place on July 30, and the votes will be counted on August 3.

Published – 10 Jul 2026 22:39 IST