03/08/2026
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor secured his first-ever electoral victory on Monday, August 3, defeating the BJP in Bihar’s Bankipur Assembly by-election and ending the party’s three-decade dominance over the constituency and its predecessor seat.
According to the Election Commission, Kishor received 63,203 votes, securing 49.19% of the total vote share. He defeated BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar, who received 44,250 votes, by a decisive margin of 18,953 votes. RJD candidate Rekha Kumari finished third with 14,085 votes.
The result marks a major political breakthrough for Kishor, who entered electoral politics after years of working behind the scenes as a strategist for several prominent parties. His Jan Suraaj Party had failed to win a single seat in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, making the Bankipur victory particularly significant for the organisation.
Bankipur has long been considered one of the BJP’s safest urban strongholds in Bihar. The present constituency was created following delimitation in 2008, but the BJP had continuously controlled the seat and its predecessor, Patna West, since 1995. Kishor declared after the result that a stronghold built over nearly 30 years had been brought down within 30 days of campaigning.
The campaign had also attracted attention after Kishor claimed BJP leaders had dismissed his candidature by saying the party would win Bankipur even if it fielded a “dog or cat.” The remark was presented publicly by Kishor as evidence of the BJP’s alleged arrogance; a specific BJP leader responsible for the statement was not clearly identified in major reports.
