22-year-old elected Bihar village council head

Patna: A 22-year-old engineering student was elected as the head of a village council here, becoming possibly the youngest person to be chosen for the post in the ongoing Bihar panchayat polls.

Ajay Kumar, who is studying engineering at an institute in Jamshedpur in neighbouring Jharkhand, was elected mukhiya (village council head) of Haradaspur Diyara panchayat in Patna district.

Ajay defeated his grandfather Vasudev Rai and outgoing mukhiya Jagdip Rai.

"People have put their faith in me as they elected me to head the village council. They rejected my grandfather and outgoing mukhiya, who were more than double my age. It is a big responsibility given to me by the villagers," Ajay told IANS on phone.

He said that people voted for him because he wanted to bring development to his village.

"My grandfather got only 20 votes. Both the old and young voted for me. I plan to change the face of my panchayat," he said.

Like many of the over 8,500 panchayats in Bihar, Ajay's Haradaspur Diyara panchayat is also without basic amenities like electricity, safe drinking water, health facilities and roads.

The Bihar panchayat polls began April 20 and will end May 28, by when a total of 262,000 panchayat members will be elected.

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