‘Bankipur Is a BJP Fortress, But We Can Win’: Prashant Kishor Eyes Crucial Bihar Bypoll

Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has announced that his Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) will contest the upcoming Bankipur Assembly bypoll in Patna, framing the election as a referendum on the performance and promises of Bihar’s new BJP-led government.

Bankipur, one of the BJP’s strongest bastions in Bihar, fell vacant after BJP leader Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha and subsequently elevated as the party’s national president earlier this year.

“Bankipur is the seat of the BJP’s national president. For the past 40 years, no party or leader has been able to defeat the BJP there,” Kishor told ANI. “Since a BJP leader has become Chief Minister for the first time, this by-election will effectively be a referendum on the promises made in November 2025.”

Kishor said voters would have an opportunity to judge the government’s performance on key commitments, including financial assistance to families, curbing migration from Bihar, improving education and creating employment opportunities.

“The public will have the right to decide whether the promises made to them have been fulfilled. Therefore, Jan Suraaj believes it must contest the Bankipur election with full force,” he said.

The JSP founder also weighed in on the NEET-UG paper leak controversy, describing it as a symptom of deeper structural issues within India’s education system.

“The problem of paper leaks is systemic, not just an isolated incident. As long as coaching institutes dominate the education sector, paper leaks will continue,” he said.

Eyeing a BJP Stronghold

Despite the party’s poor performance in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, Kishor appeared confident about its prospects in Bankipur.

Nitin Nabin has represented the constituency since winning a bypoll in 2006 following the death of his father. He retained the seat for a fifth consecutive term in 2025, defeating RJD candidate Rekha Kumari by nearly 52,000 votes and securing more than 62 per cent of the vote.

The Jan Suraaj Party had fielded first-time candidate Vandana Kumari, who finished a distant third.

Nevertheless, Kishor argued that the bypoll presents a unique political opportunity.

“Our party believes we only need to field a strong candidate,” he told reporters in Patna. “The RJD and Congress have been losing this seat by massive margins.”

He also portrayed the contest as an early test for the BJP-JD(U) government led by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who recently succeeded Nitish Kumar.

Will Kishor Contest?

When asked whether he would personally enter the fray, Kishor stopped short of making a commitment, saying only that the decision would be taken by the party.

It is a response he has used before. Ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections, Kishor repeatedly said his candidature would be decided by the party, but ultimately chose not to contest.

The political stakes, however, are markedly different this time.

In the 2025 Bihar elections, the Jan Suraaj Party contested 238 of the state’s 243 seats but failed to win a single constituency. The party secured a vote share of just over 3 per cent statewide, and in several seats its candidates polled fewer votes than the NOTA option.

At the time, Kishor had described the election as a make-or-break moment for the fledgling party, saying its fate would be either “arsh par ya farsh par” — either at the top or flat on the floor.

With the Bankipur bypoll now in sight, Kishor appears eager to test whether Jan Suraaj can turn its statewide visibility into an electoral breakthrough.