Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party won the Bankipur assembly bypoll, defeating the BJP in its stronghold. Kishor urged the BJP to replace CM Samrat Choudhary, calling for a focus on Bihar's development, employment, and education.
"This time, the people of Bankipur have made us win, and they have done so because they have hope and trust that we will raise our voices for their rights to the best of our ability, and we will make every possible effort to ensure nothing wrong happens to them," he told reporters.
Kishor said his agenda had never been limited to a single constituency but on a broader goal for the state. "Indeed, the Bankipur election was not just to elect an MLA for Bankipur. From day one, we set an agenda, and our goal has been that since the NDA and BJP got a majority in Bihar... people expect a good person to lead Bihar so that Bihar develops, Bihar's children progress, there's quality education, employment, and an end to migration," he said.
Kishor's Message to BJP Leadership
He then went further, directly naming Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and calling on the BJP's top leadership to reconsider its choice for the state's top post. "The mandate that has come from Bankipur today is not just about electing an MLA. The people of Bankipur have sent a message to the BJP's central leadership to appoint a better person as Chief Minister in Bihar instead of Samrat Choudhary," Kishor said.
Bihar's Development at Forefront
He accused the party of treating Bihar's electorate as vote banks rather than citizens with genuine needs. "Don't consider the people of Bihar as just machines for getting votes in the name of 5 kg of grains or castes. Even if you don't care as much as you do for Gujarat, at least care half as much for Bihar," he said, adding that Bihar sends 40 winning MPs compared to Gujarat's 25, and that its people deserved factories and employment just as much.
Clarifying that he has no personal issue with Samrat Choudhary, he said, "The issue is whether a capable person should lead to improve the lives of Bihar's 13 crore people, or someone whose conduct and character are themselves questionable," he said.
He argued the real issue was Bihar's status as one of India's poorest and most backward states, and questioned whether the BJP's commitment to development extended equally to all the states that vote for it. "It's not about the person; it's about the fact that Bihar is currently the poorest and most backward state in the country. Is the responsibility of Modi ji and the BJP, whom we vote for, only towards Gujarat? The children of Bihar also have rights. Let a one-lakh-crore-rupee bullet train be built in Gujarat; we have no problem with that, but something should also be thought for the children of Bihar," he said.
Historic Win in BJP Bastion
The win marks Kishor's first electoral victory since he launched Jan Suraaj, and comes barely nine months after the party failed to open its account in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. The by-poll recorded a voter turnout of 34.24 per cent, according to the Election Commission. Celebrations overtook the Jan Suraaj office and the streets of Patna as they waited for the results. Kishor's wife also expressed her gratitude to the people of Bankipur.
For the BJP, the defeat is a far more significant setback than the loss of a single seat, as Bankipur had been held comfortably by the party since 1995. For over three decades, the constituency was effectively the political fiefdom of one family: first represented by BJP leader Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha, and continuously held for five consecutive terms by his son and now BJP national president Nitin Nabin, whose move to the Rajya Sabha triggered the bypoll in the first place. In the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, Nabin had won Bankipur by a massive margin of over 50,000 votes.
For Kishor to systematically dismantle that legacy in Nabin's own backyard delivers a severe blow to the ruling party's prestige. The bypoll had drawn significant attention as it marked the electoral debut of Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor in what was seen as a BJP bastion. (ANI)
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