Patna: Prashant Kishor has all but clinched a momentous victory in the Bankipur Assembly bypoll in Bihar.
A month after announcing himself as candidate for the by-election, the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder leads his nearest rival, BJP’s Neeraj Kumar, by nearly 19,000 votes with just one round left to be counted.
In an extremely disappointing electoral debut, JSP had failed to open its account in the Bihar Assembly elections held in November 2025.
Kishor, who had not contested then, took up the cudgels as the Bankipur seat fell vacant after Nitin Nabin resigned from Bihar assembly to become a member of Rajya Sabha. Nabin, who was elevated to the post of BJP president, represented the urban Patna seat for nearly two decades.
Prior to that, Nabin’s father Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha won from Bankipur for 15 years, thus making it a BJP and one family’s bastion.
So it was a prestige fight for Kishor – not only for himself but his new party as well which was looking for its first representative in the Bihar Assembly.
No wonder Kishor was elated, describing his victory as the collapse of a “30-year fort”.
“The 30-year fort has collapsed in just 30 days. It has fallen because the people of Bihar now want governments to rise above four-five kilos of free ration and caste politics and work for their children’s education and employment,” Kishor told reporters.
The poll strategist-turned-politician cautioned all state governments not to ignore these concerns of the electorate.
“If they do not work on these issues, they will continue to see similar election results in the future,” Kishor said.
Stressing that his fight was for better governance in Bihar, Kishor urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appoint a chief minister who could transform Bihar’s development trajectory.
“Our fight is not against any individual. The BJP has the majority and the NDA will form the government. We are only making one request. The people of Bihar, especially those of Bankipur, are requesting Prime Minister Modi to appoint a capable and virtuous person as the Chief Minister of Bihar so that people can feel proud of being Bihari and our children can get quality education and employment,” Kishor said.
Taking a swipe at chief minister Samrat Choudhary, Kishor said, “Samrat Chaudhary’s character and reputation are already in the public domain. If you make a person with a criminal background the chief minister of Bihar, Bihar cannot progress.”
Kishor said the Bankipur result was not about his personal victory but about the aspirations of Bihar’s people.
“This is the victory of the people of Bankipur. As we said during the election campaign, this was not just an election to choose an MLA. It was an attempt by the people of Bihar to send a message to the BJP’s central leadership that they should appoint a good person as the chief minister of Bihar,” he said.
