Prashant Kishor leads Bankipur bypoll, calling for better leadership, education and employment in Bihar.
Jan Suraaj chief says election sends message to BJP leadership, urging focus on Bihar’s development.
Kishor’s debut contest challenges BJP stronghold, with voter shifts boosting his electoral performance.
Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor, leading by 14,953 votes after 25 rounds of counting in the Bankipur Assembly bypoll, said the election was not merely about choosing an MLA but about sending a message for better leadership in Bihar.
"This is not an election to make an MLA. This is to give the message to the top leadership of the BJP that a good person should be made chief minister in Bihar, so that there is education and employment in Bihar. The people have given this message," Kishor said while speaking after taking a lead in the counting trends.
As he inched closer to victory, Kishor reiterated that the Bankipur bypoll was a referendum on Bihar's leadership rather than a contest for a single Assembly seat.
"I am also congratulating those who lost the election. This is a democracy; there are wins and losses in elections. But the Bankipur election was not an election to elect an MLA. This election was to decide on the BJP-NDA government and its leadership. The people of Bankipur have voted that the central leadership of the BJP should consider it and, in the interest of Bihar, hand over the power of Bihar to a good person," he told ANI.
He thanked the people who voted for him and said he would continue efforts to win over those who did not support him.
"But the important thing is that Bihar should get good leadership. The migration should stop from here," Kishor added.
As Kishor widened his lead over BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha in the Bankipur Assembly bypoll, his performance marked a significant moment in his first electoral contest.
The Prashant Kishor Factor
Kishor’s decision to contest the election himself emerged as a major factor behind the Jan Suraaj Party’s performance. The former election strategist entered the electoral arena after leading his party in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, where the JSP failed to win a single seat despite contesting 238 of the state’s 243 constituencies.
Unlike earlier, when he relied on party candidates, Kishor chose to contest the Bankipur seat in Patna himself, giving the campaign a direct focus around his leadership.
His candidature posed a challenge to the BJP’s Neeraj Kumar Sinha, who was fielded from the seat vacated by Nitin Nabin, who had represented Bankipur for five terms.
A Perceived Mood For Change
Another factor behind Kishor’s performance was a perceived demand for change among sections of voters in the BJP’s traditional stronghold.
Kishor described the election as a referendum on Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and criticised the BJP’s claim that Bankipur was its stronghold, saying that political strongholds were created by people, not parties.
Shifts In BJP And RJD Support Bases
Kishor’s rise in Bankipur also reflected changes in the traditional voter bases of both the BJP and the RJD.
While the BJP continued to retain support among sections of the upper caste Kayastha community, some other upper caste and OBC voters appeared to move towards Kishor.
Sections of the RJD’s traditional Muslim-Yadav support base also appeared to shift towards the Jan Suraaj candidate, with some voters viewing Kishor as a strong challenger to the BJP.
Why Bankipur Matters?
BJP has dominated the Bankipur Assembly constituency for three decades, making it one of the party's safest urban strongholds in Bihar. The seat has remained with the BJP continuously since the 1995 Assembly election, first under veteran leader Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha and later under his son, Nitin Nabin.
In the 2025 Assembly election, months before being elected BJP president, Nitin Nabin retained the constituency by defeating RJD candidate Rekha Kumari by a margin of 51,936 votes, reinforcing the party's dominance in the seat.
Bankipur is an urban Assembly constituency located in Patna district. It is part of the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency. Bankipur is historically known as a Kayastha stronghold. The constituency has a diverse voter base, but its sizable upper-caste population has traditionally favoured the BJP. This has made Bankipur one of the party's most reliable urban seats.
