Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter, Misa Bharti, has emerged as the frontrunner in the Lok Sabha elections for Bihar’s Patliputra constituency, a significant turnaround considering her previous setbacks in the same race. Holding a lead with 330,985 votes, Bharti, daughter of former Bihar Chief Ministers Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, is poised to secure the seat.
Her opponent, BJP’s Ram Kripal Yadav, once a close associate of Lalu Prasad Yadav who switched allegiance to the saffron party prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, is trailing behind with a notable gap of 274,502 votes.
This victory marks a significant milestone for Bharti, who had faced defeat in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections by narrow margins. Despite her previous setbacks, Bharti’s electoral support has surged, as evident from her current vote count compared to her previous performances.
Patliputra, encompassing rural areas of Patna district, has historical significance as it was a seat once lost by Lalu Yadav himself in 2009.
The election for the Patliputra constituency took place on June 1, marking the culmination of the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Born in 1976, Misa Bharti is the eldest among her parents’ nine children. A qualified doctor, she is married to Shailesh Kumar, a computer engineer, with whom she reportedly shares three children.
Bharti entered the political arena in 2014 under the RJD banner, contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Patliputra, albeit unsuccessfully. Subsequently, in 2016, she secured a Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar without opposition. Despite her earlier defeats, Bharti persisted in her electoral pursuits, vying for the Patliputra seat again in 2019, only to face another loss to Ram Kripal Yadav.