Family, Fodder Scam And Prashant Kishor: Reasons Behind BJP Replacing Its Candidate In Nitin Nabin's Assembly Constituency

Patna: When Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Bankipur Assembly constituency by-poll, Abhishek Kumar Sinha 'Bunty', withdrew from the contest on Friday evening citing "family reasons", it left everybody wondering.

However, it turned out that it was "family" indeed behind Abhishek’s withdrawal. The BJP thought it wise not to let him contest and provide ammunition to the Opposition, especially Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) leader Prashant Kishor.

The Bankipur by-poll is currently grabbing attention across the country because it has turned into a contest between Kishor and BJP national president Nitin Nabin. The constituency is considered Nabin's pocket borough, as he and his father Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha had won it nine consecutive times since 1995. Nitin was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March and resigned from the Assembly, necessitating the by-poll.

NDA candidate Abhishek Kumar Sinha withdrew his nomination from the Bankipore assembly constituency by-election, in Patna on Friday. (ANI)

The BJP announced Abhishek’s candidature on July 7 after taking his consent. He filed his nomination papers on July 9 only to step back on July 11. He has been associated with the party for around 26 years, has been a close aide of Nabin, and is said to have been handpicked by him to represent the constituency in his absence.

Though considered a relatively lesser-known and weak candidate against Kishor, Abhishek was comfortably poised as he had the complete backing of Nabin and the party's strong grassroots cadre.

Meanwhile, Prashant Kishor hit the constituency streets, marching from one area to another from morning to evening to meet voters. He is scheduled to file nomination papers on Monday (July 13). And then, the political grapevine started buzzing about how Kishor was planning to hold a press conference to share some confidential information about Abhishek.

Jan Suraaj Party Chief Prashant Kishor during a roadshow as part of a voter outreach campaign ahead of Bihar assembly bypoll elections from Bankipur constituency, in Patna on Friday. (ANI)

The talks left the BJP worried as the JSP leader had adopted similar tactics during the November 2025 Assembly polls and laundered much dirty linen of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders at his press conferences.

“Abhishek’s father Ravindra Prasad was an accused in the infamous Fodder Scam in which Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and former chief minister Lalu Prasad and others were convicted and jailed. He (Ravindra) was the manager of a firm – Magadh Chemical Corporation – and had submitted fake bills of cattle fodder and medicines without actually supplying them,” a senior BJP leader told ETV Bharat.

Pointing out that Abhishek was handpicked and his name was finalised without even submitting his biodata, the senior BJP leader asserted that this angered other strong contenders and party workers.

“A large number of local leaders and party workers complained to Nabin and BJP Bihar unit president Sanjay Saraogi about the anomalous decision. Abhishek worked as an infrastructure contractor, and there were also complaints about the quality of work he did,” the senior leader added.

All these proved too much for the BJP, as a defeat at Bankipur would be considered a loss of face for the world’s largest party due to its association with Nabin. As the last date for filing nomination papers is July 13, the party thought it wise to replace Abhishek with Niraj Kumar Sinha. Just 32, Sinha has been associated with the BJP's youth wing for the last few years. His uncle Narendra Bharti was a worker of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

Reacting to the development while canvassing in the constituency, Kishor said: “You have seen until now that candidates of other parties used to run away due to fear of the BJP. The BJP used to threaten people with ED, CBI, income tax raids. It used to buy some candidates and get the nominations of others cancelled to change the candidates.”

“The God has done justice and the BJP candidate has fled away in my first fight. People used to assert that Bankipur was such a strong fortress of the BJP that it was difficult for the other parties to find candidates to contest against it. But see how the BJP candidate fled away,” Kishor added.

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Bankipur By-Election: BJP Candidate Abhishek Kumar Sinha 'Bunty' Withdraws His Nomination