With 2025 assembly elections in Bihar approaching, the state looks back at 2024 Lok Sabha elections that witnessed the reign of national parties, yet playing a role in bringing national prominence to obscure voices. One of the leaders who came out strongly is Janardan Pandit, a grass root politician who represented the Akhil Bharatiya Jan Sangh (ABJS) as a member of parliament in the Parbatta parliamentary constituency.
Education & Background
Janardan Pandit was the candidate of the Akhil Bharatiya Jan Sangh (ABJS) party in the 2024 lok sabha elections against Indian National Congress Member of Parliament Ram Phul Shankar in the Parbatta parliamentary constituency winning by a majority of votes. He is a part of the General list and has a humble origin which is characteristic of most candidates who tried their feet at politics not as a legacy or fame but as an ideology.
Janardan Pandit had passed Matriculation (10th standard) in 1974 in Bhagawan High School at Gagari, Bihar, according to the official affidavit that party filed with Election Commission of India. The milestone is an indicator of a fundamental, though not insignificant, educational grounding, which in context of the movement around the region and at the grass root level of politics.
Janardan Pandit did not show any criminal cases, yet in his affidavit, he reported nothing, both assets or liabilities, and this fact positions him among those candidates who are fighting in elections with very limited financial support.
Results of the Elections and Vote Performance
During the 2024 general elections, Janardan Pandit was able to receive a total amount of votes summing up to 1,562 which were received by the Parbatta constituency. This added up to only 1.52 percent of the vote and this caused his candidature to be forfeited.
His forfeited status implies he did not get the minimum number of percentages of the valid votes to have his deposit kept by the Election Commission. This signifies the challenge that small parties or candidates with less known parties encounter against well established political titans in Indian elections politics.
Party and Political Affiliation
Janardan Pandit was a speaker of the Akhil Bharatiya Jan Sangh (ABJS), right-wing political party, the intellectual basis of which can be traced back to the roots of Hindu nationalism. Today, ABJS might not be a major political power on the national landscape, but the movement continues to have candidates in various constituencies in order to drive its own ideological interests.
The party tends to support powerful cultural nationalism and belongs to the current strand of political thought that resembles some traditional and conservative layers of the population.
Career & Campaign
There is not much known about the pre and post political career of Janardan Pandit in case he does not get elected in 2024. His candidature appeared a rather non-resolute outward practice by his party than the robust electoral attachment, with masses support or campaign funds behind it.
Being a representative of one of the fringe parties, he may have been limited with regard to campaigning, exposure in the media and financial support. The number of his votes demonstrates the problems of independent or minor candidates in the competition of the Indian political arena.
Parbatta Constituency Competition
Mainstream electoral competition was very heated in Parbatta. Within this competitive crowd, the candidates such as Janardan Pandit had hardly any chance to have a major presence on the spectrum or make it fast. His presence is, however, symbolic of the democratic involvement of including all voices, even the little voices being given an opportunity to challenge and be heard.
After all, the experience of Janardan Pandit in the 2024 elections is an illustration of how numerous low-resource candidates who came upon relatively small platforms impacted the democratic landscape of India and made it more diverse and representative.
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