BJP Fields Abhishek Kumar Against Prashant Kishor in Bankipur Bypoll

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced Abhishek Kumar, state vice-president of its youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), as its candidate for the upcoming by-election in the Bankipur Assembly constituency. The bypoll, scheduled for July 30, will see a three-cornered contest involving Kumar, Rekha Gupta of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Prashant Kishor, founder of the Jan Suraaj Party.

The election was necessitated after sitting BJP MLA Nitin Nabin was elected the party's national president and subsequently nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Bankipur, known as Patna West until the 2005 Assembly elections, has been held continuously by the BJP since 1995. Prior to that, the Janata Party’s Thakur Prasad won the seat in 1977.

BJP national general secretary Arun Singh announced Kumar’s candidature on Tuesday. Bihar BJP media in-charge Danish Eqbal said, “Abhishek Kumar has been a committed worker of the party for 27 years. He has previously served as the Patna Mahanagar BJYM president and as a mandal head twice. He has risen to this level from being a booth president, which shows how much the party values its grassroots workers.”