Bihar election 2025: Meet Shashant Shekhar, IITian, IIM graduate-turned-dairy entrepreneur, Congress candidate from Patna Sahib, his net worth is Rs...

The 35-year-old Shashant Shekhar, son of Chandra Shekhar Ajit, a Congress candidate, is contesting against a candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), named Ratnesh Kushwaha, from Patna Sahib constituency in the Bihar Election 2025. He is a civil engineer from the 2014 batch of IIT(Indian Institute of Technology) Delhi and pursued graduation from the 2017 batch of prestigious  IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Calcutta. 

Shashant Shekhar's career

There has been curiosity about Congress candidate Shashant as he turned down a job offer of Rs 1.25 crore. “Jab maine IIT ki aur pehla job mila wo Rs 50,000 ka tha. IIM karne ke bad jo offer mila 2017 mai Rs 1.25 crore ka tha. Ye shiksha ki taakat hai aur aapko isse door rakh rahi hai ye sarkar,” (I received a job offer of Rs 50,000 when I first came out of IIT. Then I received an offer of Rs 1.25 crore after doing IIM. This is the empowerment of education and this government is denying this to you),” Shekhar had said, urging voters not to make the mistake of choosing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) again. 

He began his early career at a startup in Bangalore, and he later shifted to Samsung’s Innovation Labs. Since then, he has been focusing on creating more educational and job-related opportunities for the youth. He later worked with political consultancy firms like I-PAC and Inclusive Minds before taking up a career in politics.

Shashant Shekhar's vision

Contesting from Patna Sahib constituency, Shekhar promises to provide scholarships to 1,000 students till graduation, coaching for students to help them with IIT/IIM/medical coaching, and starting English medium schools, among others. He also encouraged door-to-door contact programmes to reach out to voters. He is hopeful of victory as he points out that the sitting MLA did not work despite being in power for several terms.