Patna: Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor has registered a major victory in the Bankipur Assembly by-election, defeating BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by a margin of 18,963 votes and breaking the BJP’s long-standing dominance over the constituency.
According to the Election Commission, after the completion of all 31 rounds of counting, Prashant Kishor secured 63,203 votes, while BJP’s Neeraj Kumar polled 44,250 votes.
RJD candidate Rekha Kumari Gupta finished a distant third with 14,085 votes.
The victory marks the first electoral win of Prashant Kishor’s political career and is being viewed as a significant development in Bihar politics.
Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary congratulated Kishor on his victory.
In a post on X, Choudhary said that the people of Bankipur had chosen Jan Suraaj in the “great festival of democracy” and extended his congratulations to Prashant Kishor while respecting the people’s mandate.
Prashant Kishor maintained a strong lead from the initial rounds of counting and continued to widen the gap with his rivals as counting progressed.
What was expected to be a closely watched triangular contest involving Jan Suraaj, BJP, and RJD eventually turned into a comfortable victory for Kishor.
The magnitude of the victory was such that the principal contest soon appeared to be for the second position.
The BJP retained the second spot, while the RJD slipped to third, trailing significantly behind both Kishor and the BJP.
The result has surprised political observers, particularly because Bankipur has traditionally been regarded as a stronghold of the BJP.
Kishor’s victory, therefore, represents a significant shift in the political dynamics of the Patna constituency.
The Bankipur result is likely to trigger introspection within both the BJP and the RJD.
The BJP had previously established a substantial advantage in the constituency.
In the 2025 Bihar Assembly election, the party leader Nitin Nabin had defeated the RJD candidate Rekha Gupta by a margin of around 51,000 votes.
However, that electoral advantage was not reflected in the by-election.
The BJP managed to retain the second position but suffered a significant setback by losing a seat that had long been considered its traditional bastion.
The RJD’s performance was even weaker, with Rekha Kumari Gupta finishing third and securing only 14,085 votes.
The outcome has prompted speculation that Kishor succeeded in attracting voters who had traditionally supported both the BJP and the RJD.
However, the exact reasons behind the dramatic shift in voting patterns are likely to become clearer after a detailed analysis of booth-wise results.
For Prashant Kishor and Jan Suraaj, the Bankipur victory provides a major political boost and establishes the party as a new electoral force in Bihar.
(IANS)
