Patna: In a historic upset in Bihar politics, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party registered its first electoral victory by wrecking the BJP’s 35-year-long hold over the Bankipur assembly seat in a closely watched by-election.
Kishor, popularly known as PK, defeated the BJP’s candidate by a significant margin. Counting began on Monday, and his win became virtually certain by the 15th of 32 rounds of counting. In the final tally, Kishor secured 64,151 votes against BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha’s 44,827 votes, winning by a margin of 19,324 votes. RJD candidate Rekha Gupta trailed in third place with just 14,273 votes.
The by-election was necessitated after the seat fell vacant following BJP leader Nitin Nabin’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha. Kishor had begun campaigning nearly two months before rival parties, focusing heavily on door-to-door outreach and booth-level organisation, with special emphasis on young and first-time voters.
Conceding defeat, Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Saraogi congratulated Kishor and said the party would review the reasons behind its setback. State minister Vijay Kumar Sinha added that the party respected the democratic verdict.