PATNA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday inducted three more leaders from rival parties ahead of the Bankipur Assembly bypoll, scheduled for July 30. Among them was Chetna Jhamb, who unsuccessfully contested the 2025 Assembly election from Samastipur in north Bihar.
The BJP is making an all-out effort to retain the high-profile Bankipur constituency. Besides Jhamb, Anand Madhukar Yadav, national vice-president of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), and Shruti Shri, block pramukh of Fatuha in Patna district, also joined the party.
The three leaders, along with hundreds of their supporters, were inducted into the BJP in the presence of senior party leaders, including state president Sanjay Saraogi.
Jhamb had contested the last Assembly election from Samastipur as an Independent, though she had been closely associated with Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) and actively worked in the constituency.
Popularly known as "Samastipur Ki Beti", Jhamb has been active in Bihar politics for several years. Her switch to the BJP is seen as a setback for the JSP.
The development comes a day after several JSP leaders, including noted mathematician Prof KC Sinha, joined the BJP at a "Milan Samaroh" organised at the party's state office. Sinha had unsuccessfully contested the 2025 Assembly election from the Kumhrar seat as a JSP candidate.
Several leaders of former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahani-led VIP, including its national vice-president Anand Madhukar Yadav, were also inducted into the BJP at the event.
State BJP president Sanjay Saraogi said leaders from different political parties were joining the BJP after being influenced by its ideology.
The BJP has deployed nine women MLAs, including former deputy chief minister Renu Devi and first-time MLA Maithili Thakur, to campaign for party candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha. BJP national president Nitin Nabin has also appealed to voters to support Sinha in the bypoll.
The bypoll was necessitated after sitting MLA Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha. The Bankipur seat has been held by the BJP for more than three decades.
Sinha belongs to the Kayastha community, which has a sizeable presence in the constituency. Influential leaders from the community have been assigned specific responsibilities to mobilise support for him.
Sinha is pitted against former political strategist-turned-Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor, who is making his electoral debut.
"It is debutant versus debutant in Bankipur this time," said a political analyst.
Kishor has received the backing of Trinamool Congress MP and former Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha.
The RJD has fielded Rekha Kumar, also known as Rekha Gupta, from the constituency. However, the party's national working president,
Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, has not yet campaigned for her as he is abroad. Other RJD leaders are canvassing for Gupta, who had unsuccessfully contested the previous Assembly election from the same seat.
In the 2025 Assembly election, Nitin Nabin secured 63.25% of the votes polled and defeated the RJD's Rekha Kumari by a margin of 51,936 votes.
