Aug 05, 2026 13:27 pm IST

Opinion | Prashant Kishor May Just Be Playing Two Games At Once In Bihar

The Jan Suraaj is neither a 'BJP-lite' option for disaffected upper-caste voters, nor is it an RJD alternative for Muslims. It is, in fact, both things at once, in the same seat, in the same election.

Amitabh Tiwari Amitabh Tiwari Columnist

Amitabh Tiwari Columnist

Prashant Kishor and his Jan Suraaj Party have created an upset of sorts in Bihar by wresting Bankipur from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Thus far represented by the BJP's national president, Nitin Nabin, the seat, ironically, was considered safe for the saffron party. Considering that in 80% of cases byelections are won by the incumbent government, this is a serious achievement for Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), which last year had failed to even open its account in the Vidhan Sabha polls.

The Bankipur by-poll results have exhibited a massive swing in just eight months. In 2025, the BJP had won the seat by a massive lead of 51,936 votes. However, its loss this time is by over 19,000 votes. That's a massive swing of 71,000 against the incumbent for a seat it has held for close to three decades.

In the 2025 assembly election, Bankipur was a clean BJP vs RJD contest. The BJP polled 62.7% of the vote, the RJD 29.6%, and the Jan Suraaj Party came as an afterthought at 4.9%.

A year later, in the 2026 by-poll, that picture was inverted. The JSP has managed to bag a whopping 49.2% of the total votes, the BJP has collapsed to 34.4%, and the RJD has been reduced to a distant 11%. NOTA and other candidates barely moved.

Put simply, the BJP lost 28 percentage points of votes, the RJD close to 19 points, and the JSP gained roughly 44........

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