Who was Ranjeet Sharma, tipped to contest from Bihar’s Jale seat?
Jan Suraaj Party state secretary Ranjeet Sharma was speculated to be the party’s candidate from Jale in Darbhanga, where BJP minister Jivesh Kumar was the sitting MLA.
Youth icon Ranjeet Sharma was the talk of Jale assembly constituency in Darbhanga district over his election campaigning. In Jale, considered a hot seat in the Bihar assembly, the path would not be easy that time for BJP MLA and state minister Jivesh Kumar. Ranjeet Sharma, state secretary of the Jan Suraaj Party and its probable candidate from Jale, had established his business in the southern states far from Bihar and made his mark with his hard work and skill. Having joined the Jan Suraaj campaign launched three years earlier, he was reaching out to people across Jale constituency for change in Bihar.
Who was Ranjeet Sharma?
Born in Rajo in Singhwara block of Jale constituency, Darbhanga district, Ranjeet Sharma had a difficult early life. Because of migration and the lack of good educational facilities in Bihar, he had to leave to pursue higher education. Coming from a small village like Rajo in Jale, he earned a degree from Bangalore University. After completing his studies he worked for some time at a multinational company, then started his own company and by then gave employment to hundreds of people. In 2023, influenced by Prashant Kishor, he joined the Jan Suraaj campaign and took part in the padayatra in Madhubani and Darbhanga districts.
Photo of Ranjeet Sharma
To realise the vision of a better Bihar, Ranjeet decided to enter politics and joined the work of the Jan Suraaj Party with body, mind and resources. The young leader said, “I am attached to my motherland Jale. Wherever in the country I lived for work, my heart was always in Jale. Influenced by Prashant Kishor’s ideas, I am putting my shoulder to Jan Suraaj and will work to make Jale a better Jale.”
What was the equation in Jale constituency?
Jale was then represented by BJP’s Jivesh Kumar, who was also the state’s Urban Development Minister. Minister Jivesh Kumar had recently been in the news over a fake medicine case, and the opposition had been demanding his resignation. In the 2020 election Jivesh Kumar defeated Mahagathbandhan Congress candidate Dr Mashkoor Ahmad Usmani by about 22,000 votes. That time, RJD spokesperson and former MLA Rishi Mishra was being discussed for the Mahagathbandhan, while Mashkoor Usmani was in the running from the Congress side. Ranjeet Sharma’s name was considered almost final from Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party, which claimed it would contest all 243 seats in Bihar.
On the caste equation in Jale, there were about 1 lakh Muslim voters, 80,000 extremely backward class voters, 30,000 Brahmins and about 15,000 Bhumihars. Dalit voters numbered around 50,000. It remained to be seen whom the Mahagathbandhan would announce as its candidate. That time the path would not be easy for BJP’s Jivesh Kumar.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Bihar Vidhan Sabha building, Patna (file photo).
