Lok Sabha Elections 2024: It’s a battle of dynasts in Bihar’s Samastipur

While Shambhavi has many advantages, she faces daunting task of taking her rival and Congress candidate Sunny Hazari head-on. Interestingly, Sunny Hazari’s father Maheshwar Hazari too is a Cabinet Minister in the Nitish Government, but ensured his son gets a Congress ticket bypassing many senior Congressmen.

Patna: She is arguably the youngest female candidate in the fray in Bihar. Just 25, Shambhavi Choudhary is the third generation politician trying to test the electoral waters from the Samastipur reserved parliamentary constituency as the LJP (R) candidate.

Daughter of a senior JD (U) minister Ashok Choudhary, Shambhavi graduated from Lady Sri Ram College (Delhi University) followed by post-graduation from Delhi School of Economics and a doctorate degree from Amity. Criss-crossing from one end of the constituency to another, she is making her political debut from where former Bihar CM, Karpoori Thakur (who was bestowed upon Bharat Ratna this year) won in 1977 as a Janata Party MP.

When asked why chose to be the LJP (R) candidate instead of the JD (U), pat comes her reply: “For two reasons. First, the LJP (R) is part of the NDA, just like the JD (U) and the seat was allocated to the LJP (R) during the seat-sharing agreement. Secondly, I admire Chirag Paswan Bhaiya for his ‘Bihar first, Bihari first’ vision.”

Shambhavi’s road to success could be a rough one despite the fact that her father is a minister in the Nitish Cabinet and her grandfather (Mahavir Choudhary) was also a minister in the erstwhile Congress regime. Besides, she is the daughter-in-law of retired IPS officer Kishore Kunal, whose son Shayan Kunal (an upper caste Bhumihar) married Shambhavi (a Dalit) in 2023.

“A canard was spread that I was against their marriage,” says Kishore Kunal, adding that his daughter-in-law has all the pre-requisite to become a Lok Sabha MP. She could be one of the youngest MP at the age of 25 and play a long stint as a parliamentarian,” opined the Retd IPS officer, who earlier served as Administrator of the Bihar State Religious Trust Board.

While Shambhavi has many advantages, she, however, faces daunting task of taking her rival and Congress candidate Sunny Hazari head-on. Interestingly, Sunny Hazari’s father Maheshwar Hazari too is a Cabinet Minister in the Nitish Government, but ensured his son gets a Congress ticket bypassing many senior Congressmen.

A veteran Socialist, Maheshwar Hazari had earlier represented Samastipur as its Lok Sabha member when he defeated Ram Vilas Paswan’s younger brother Ram Chandra Paswan in 2009. Though Sunny Hazari is also making his parliamentary election debut, much like his rival Shambhavi, the Hazaris have a strong foothold in some of the Assembly constituencies like Kusheshwar-sthan, Rosera and Kalyanpur under the Samastipur Lok Sabha segment. On the other hand, Shambhavi’s claim on Samastipur is merely the fact that it’s the home turf of her mother-in-law Anita Kunal, the administrator of a prestigious school in Patna.

“The most interesting aspect of this election will be: For whom will Nitish Kumar campaign? Shambhavi or Sunny? After all, both are children of two of his Cabinet colleagues,” averred a senior Congressman Rajesh Sinha.

Polling in Samastipur is slated for May 13.