Pataliputra (Incumbent: Ram Kripal Yadav - BJP)
The counting of votes for the highly anticipated Lok Sabha Elections commenced on Tuesday with RJD's Misha Bharti leading by 71,000 votes.
Misha Bharti, RJD leader and daughter of party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, is pitted against sitting BJP MP Ram Kripal Yadav, who is eyeing his third term from the seat.
Misha, who lost twice to Kripal Yadav in 2014 and 2019 by slim margins of around 40,000 votes each time, is attempting to change the equation this time.
The electoral battle has become interesting with the entry of Farukh Raza of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), expanding it into a three-way battle at the expense of the RJD. Farukh Raza previously served as the general secretary of the youth wing of the RJD and was also the counting in-charge for Misa Bharati in the 2019 elections.
Given that nearly eight percent of Pataliputra's population is Muslim, the decision by Owaisi's party to field a candidate has taken the challenge posed to Misa Bharti and Ram Kripal Yadav a notch higher.
2024 polls: The seat saw a voting turnout of 58.55%, according to the Election Commission’s data released. The seat went to polls in phase 7 on June 1, 2024.
In the 2019 LS Polls, Ram Kripal Yadav won from Pataliputra, getting 509,557 votes, comprising 47.28% of the total number of votes polled. He defeated RJD’s Misha Bharti by a narrow margin of 39,321 votes. Yadav had won from the seat in 2014 as well, polling 383,262 votes (39.16%). Misha was the first runner up then as well as she lost to Yadav by a slim margin of 40,322 votes.
