Seven doctors in LS fray in Bihar on party tickets, IMA backs

Misa Bharti and Rohini Acharya, two daughters of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, are the most prominent candidates among the doctors in the fray in the state, which has 40 Lok Sabha seats.

As many as seven doctors in Bihar are trying their luck in the ongoing parliamentary elections as candidates of established political parties, according to seniors in the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Former union minister and sitting BJP MP from Patna Sahib constituency, Ravishankar Prasad, comes out after filing his nomination paper for Lok Sabha polls. To his left is Dr C P Thakur, one of the most eminent doctors of Bihar who also served as union health minister. (HT photo)

“The national IMA is encouraging doctors to take to politics so that the fraternity’s voice can be heard in Parliament. In an internal communication last month, the national body had asked doctors to extend full support to doctor candidates from major political parties contesting the Lok Sabha elections,” said Dr Ajay Kumar, former acting president of the IMA, Bihar chapter.

In Bihar, Misa Bharti and Rohini Acharya, two daughters of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, are the most prominent candidates among the doctors in the fray in the state, which has 40 Lok Sabha seats.

Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, a former BJP state president and three-time MP, besides Congress’s Mohammad Jawed, the sitting MP from Kishanganj and a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly between 2010 and 2019, are doctors as well.

Other doctors include JD(U) MP from Gopalganj, Alok Kumar Suman, who is seeking a second term in the Lok Sabha from the reserved seat, and BJP’s Rajbhushan Choudhary, who is in the fray from Muzaffarpur. A last-hour entrant to the list is Vikassheel Insaan Party candidate Rajesh Kushwaha, a doctor of indigenous medicines, who is contesting from East Champaran.

Some more doctors, including a former president of the national IMA, a former acting superintendent of the Patna Medical College Hospital and a surgeon of repute from Nawada also unsuccessfully tried for tickets from reputed political parties, said insiders in IMA-Bihar.

“I tried my luck with BJP in 2013-14. Despite an assurance of getting a ticket from the Patliputra parliamentary constituency by one of the topmost national leaders of the party, I did not get one,” said Dr Ajay Kumar, former president of the national IMA, ex-president of the Urological Society of India and former chairman (administration) of the erstwhile Medical Council of India.

Among the doctors with political ambitions, only a few have been successful.

Among doctors from Bihar who tasted political success were Dr Vidhanchandra Rai, who went on to become the chief minister of West Bengal.

BJP’s Dr CP Thakur is a former Union health minister. Orthopaedic Dr SM Isa of Ara was a minister in the Bihar cabinet. Dr Sanjeev Kumar Singh is a JD(U) legislator, while Dr Ashok Kumar Singh was a former minister in the state.

Dr Sharda Prasad Sinha from Purnia and Dr Gopal Prasad Sinha from Patna were among the prominent doctors to have made unsuccessful attempts for a seat in the legislative assembly or Parliament.

BJP leader Dr Sanjay Jaiswal said doctors joining politics is as a positive sign.

“We need good, educated people to join politics. We should have adequate representation of people from all fraternities in Parliament so that good, comprehensive policies can be made. I have been in politics since my student days in the youth wing of the BJP. I firmly believe that positive change can be brought about through good politics, and that was my motivation to joining politics. As a doctor, I was serving only 15 to 20 people. However, after joining politics, I am serving the humanity at large,” Jaiswal told HT.

The participation of “graduate professionals” in Lok Sabha elections, which includes doctors, engineers, lawyers and those holding bachelors of education (B.Ed) degree, has grown since 2014.

As many as 11.17% (912 of the 8,163) candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in the country were graduate professionals. The representation rose to 11.23% when 891 of the 7,928 candidates were graduate professionals in 2019. This year, the representation has already gone up to 12.27% as 721 of the 5872 candidates till the four of the seven-phase ongoing Lok Sabha elections are graduate professionals, as per reports of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch.