The fiercely contested Karakat Assembly seat in Bihar has delivered a setback for Independent candidate Jyoti Singh, wife of Bhojpuri actor and BJP leader Pawan Singh. As of 2 pm, Jyoti Singh is trailing by 26,921 votes after 14 rounds of counting, having secured only 9,308 votes. Janata Dal (United) candidate Mahabali Singh is leading comfortably in the constituency, while CPI(ML)’s Arun Singh and Jan Suraaj’s Yogendra Singh remain close contenders in what has been a multi-cornered fight.

Karakat drew significant attention this election season for its mix of political and personal drama. Jyoti Singh’s independent entry into the race came just days after she met with political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor. Though details of their meeting were never publicly disclosed, it amplified speculation about her political ambitions beyond her husband’s shadow. Her campaign, however, failed to gather enough traction to challenge established party candidates.

The Karakat contest also carried an undercurrent of personal tension. Ahead of the election, Jyoti Singh had publicly accused her husband, Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh, of infidelity, sparking a media frenzy. The couple’s feud became one of the talking points of the Bihar polls, particularly after Pawan Singh—once a popular face within the BJP—was dropped from the party’s candidate list in 2024 due to controversies surrounding his public image. He later withdrew from the race, declaring himself a “true soldier” of the BJP, while his wife went solo as an Independent.

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Despite the dramatic backdrop, voters in Karakat have largely backed established political forces this time. Mahabali Singh’s strong lead underlines JD(U)’s continued dominance in the region, bolstered by Nitish Kumar’s chief ministership and the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) broader success statewide. The NDA has already crossed the 200-seat mark in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, leaving the Opposition bloc struggling to stay relevant.

Voting for Karakat took place on November 11, alongside other key constituencies in Rohtas district such as Sasaram, Nokha, and Dehri. For Jyoti Singh, the result underscores the difficulty Independent candidates face in Bihar’s deeply party-driven political landscape, where personal recognition and controversy often fail to translate into electoral performance.

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