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BJP’s Shreyasi Singh defeats RJD’s Mohammad Shamshad Alam in Jamui
Shreyasi Singh won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia and a silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Shooter-turned-politician Shreyasi Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate from the Jamui constituency, won her seat by a margin of over 54,000 votes on Friday.
She was contesting against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s Shamshad Alam. The Arjun-award-winning shooter made her electoral debut in 2020.
Who is Shreyasi Singh?
Shreyasi is the daughter of late union minister Digvijay Singh and former MP Putul Kumari and has an illustrious sporting career. Shreyasi won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia and a silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. She was part of the Indian team at the 2013 Trap Shooting World Cup held in Acapulco in Mexico. Her late father was president of the National Rifle Association of India and served as the Union deputy minister for the ministry of finance and the ministry of external affairs. In 1998, Digvijay became the union minister of state, ministry of railways under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. He went on to serve as the minister of state in the ministries of commerce and industry, railways and external affairs. In 2020, she defeated the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s Vijay Prakash Yadav by a staggering margin of 41,049 votes. Her landslide victory in Jamui firmed BJP’s presence in the region.
Endorsing Shreyasi, union defence minister Rajnath Singh at an election rally last month said that Shreyasi won gold for the country and will now bring “gold” to Jamui with development, adding that she will become the “voice of Jamui and Bihar”.
Shreyasi Singh’s face-off with RJD, JSP
The grand alliance has fielded RJD’s Shamshad Alam against Shreyasi, while Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party chose Anil Prasad Sah for the closely watched contest. Alam was one of the 18 candidates on RJD’s first list and switched from JD(U) to join Lalu’s party a few months ago. He has also been an active member of Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party. His strong social connections and his wife’s post as the head of the panchayat in his Adasar village gives him an edge with local support in the region which has a considerable Mulslim population.
About Jamui
In the 2020 assembly polls, Jamui had 2,95,196 voters. Shreyasi secured the seat by defeating RJD’s Shravan Kumar with a comfortable margin of 41,049 votes as Shreyasi received 79,603 votes. Alam had contested the seat on Jan Adhikar Party and had managed to get some 17,800 votes.
