In Patna Sahib, an urban fortress long held by the BJP, the Congress’ young, high-profile candidate Shashant Shekhar entered the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. Shekhar is an IIT-IIM graduate who has worked with political strategy firms in the past, among other places. He came in with the promise of fresh energy, elite credentials and a narrative built on hope. But as the votes were counted on Friday, the electoral battlefield delivered an unforgiving verdict.
BJP’s Ratnesh Kushwaha defeated Shekhar by a massive margin of 38,900 votes, securing 1,30,366 votes to the Congress candidate’s 91,466. Kushwaha’s dominance was clear from the earliest rounds of counting. Though Shekhar narrowed the gap in later rounds, the deficit was far too wide to bridge.
For the Congress, Patna Sahib was a prestige fight. For Shekhar, it was the culmination of a personal quest that began in classrooms of India’s most elite institutions.
Who is Shashant Shekhar?
At 34, Shashant Shekhar represented the Congress’ attempt to woo urban youth. An alumnus of IIT Delhi (2014) and IIM Calcutta (2017), he had worked at Samsung’s innovation labs and later with political strategy firms such as I-PAC and Inclusive Minds.
But Patna Sahib, created after delimitation in 2008 and now a BJP stronghold, did not budge. BJP’s organisational machinery and long-standing voter loyalty once again proved decisive.
According to a Times of India report, Shekhar walked away from a lucrative ~Rs 1.2 crore job in Germany to return to Bihar. “My degrees were earned in India. They belong here,” the report quoted him as saying.
He had earlier refused a placement at Siemens Berlin and told TOI, “Why chase euros when I can build a future for my people?”
As per his election affidavit, Shekhar declared total assets worth Rs 1.2 crore and liabilities amounting to Rs 2.7 crore. He also reported an annual income of Rs 24.3 lakh.
A family legacy and a quiet groundwork
Shekhar’s grandfather had contested four elections from the erstwhile Patna East seat, though he never won. Before taking the plunge into electoral politics, Shekhar opened a dairy farm in Khusrupur in 2023, which now employs about two dozen locals.