‘Arrah strongman’ Sunil Pandey, a four-time MLA, joins BJP with son ahead of bypoll in Bihar

Sunil Pandey first won from the Piro Assembly seat in Bhojpur district in 2000 on a Janata Dal ticket and retained the seat as a JD(U) nominee in 2005. He has also represented Tarari (Piro changed to Tarari after 2008 delimitation) in the 2010 Assembly polls. Pandey had quit JD(U) before the 2015 polls. His wife Geeta Pandey lost the 2015 polls as an LJP nominee while he lost the 2020 Assembly polls.

Bihar BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal said NDA would be stronger after the joining. Pandey told mediapersons: “I had been with JD (U) and have served the NDA for a long time. We will work together to make the NDA an invincible unit.”

Pandey, who faced over two dozen cases, had been convicted in the 2003 kidnapping case of Dr Ramesh Chandra but was later acquitted by the Patna HC in 2010. However, a section of BJP leaders said that the party should have avoided including “elements like Pandey”.