The electoral rout surprised not only his followers and villagers but also the influencer himself.
Omprakash Bishnoi, however, is taking the electoral defeat in his stride. He said contesting an election for the first time had taught him how important it was to connect with voters.
He claimed he continued his public outreach using the same vehicle. “Social media is one thing, but the situation on the ground is different. Bishnoi, however, is taking the electoral defeat in his stride.
He claimed to run a cow shelter housing 1,500 cows and said he had donated about 30 bighas of his land for the purpose. But when the ballot box opened, I got only 33 votes, and 10 votes went to NOTA,” he said. Of my 33 votes, 11 came from my family.
Bishnoi told NDTV that his priorities in the election were to ensure education for every child in the village, care for destitute animals and extend the benefits of government schemes to residents. Speaking to NDTV, Bishnoi said people had encouraged him to contest the election, and he was confident of their support. “The villagers said, ‘You contest the election; we will ensure you win by a huge margin. Bishnoi also said he had neither distributed money or intoxicants to voters nor used a large convoy of vehicles for campaigning. The rest came from people who studied with me and were close to me,” he said. He said contesting an election for the first time had taught him how important it was to connect with voters. The influencer has vowed not to give up and said he would continue working to improve the lives of villagers.
