NEW DELHI: Prashant Kishor used to help others win elections. Now he has won one himself. That too, in a BJP stronghold in a BJP-ruled state, in a seat represented by BJP chief Nitin Nabin over several terms. A former poll strategist who now heads the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), Kishor has become the newest MLA from Bankipur in Bihar.
After his poll victory, Kishor promised reporters immediate improvements in Bankipur. “In 3 months, you will see a visible change in Bankipur. But for that, you will have to give me 3 months,” he said.
He also thanked the voters of Bankipur and vowed to work for the development of Bihar. He also said that the people have sent a message to the BJP that they must choose a leadership in Bihar that improves education and creates employment.
“The people of Bihar have sent a message to the BJP’s central leadership that they should appoint a good person as the chief minister of Bihar. They do not want a person with a criminal background or questionable conduct, character, or reputation to lead Bihar,” Kishor told reporters in Patna.
Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary congratulated Kishor for his poll triumph.
“In the grand festival of democracy, the people have chosen Jan Suraaj in the Bankipur Assembly by-election. Respecting this decision of the people, I heartily congratulate Prashant Kishor on his victory,” he wrote in Hindi on X.
The election follows massive student protests in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar that sent ripples through the country, with Gen Z and their issues emerging as crucial in the election discourse.
Known for its young demographic and home to several institutes, Bankipur had been on the radar of political pundits, who had been gauging the impact of Gen Z anger on this Patna seat.
Otherwise a nondescript assembly segment falling under the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha segment, Bankipur has grabbed all the limelight this bypoll round. There are multiple reasons for this sudden and overnight popularity.
The most prominent would be the fact that Bankipur had been a BJP stronghold for decades. It had nurtured a leader over several terms who went on to become the BJP’s national president. Nabin vacated the seat as he moved to the Rajya Sabha.
The contest became even more interesting with Kishor throwing his hat in the ring and the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the education minister amid the student protests.
Some analysts suggested the election would be a test of Bihar’s Gen Z voters and how they could influence an election. Nabin, however, had ruled out any big impact on Bankipur. He told NDTV last week that the BJP still has the support of the youth.
The BJP, meanwhile, faced hiccups over its candidature after Abhishek Kumar Sinha pulled out of the contest a day before filing the nomination papers, citing “family reasons”. It had then named youth wing leader Neeraj Kumar as its candidate.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal had fielded Rekha Kumari from the seat.
CONG WINS MP SEAT: In another BJP defeat in Madhya Pradesh, its former Home Minister Narottam Mishra, the man around whom Datia’s BJP politics revolved for nearly two decades. Yet Congress’ Ghanshyam Singh secured 6,6757 votes there against his BJP rival Ashutosh Tiwari’s 57,277 votes, a lead of 6,016 votes in the very pocket where the ruling party should have felt safest.
The BJP also trailed at the polling booth associated with its district president, Raghuvir Kushwaha. These were not merely small booth-level reverses. They told the larger story of the Datia by-election the BJP changed its candidate, but could not change the political structure surrounding him.
Congress veteran Ghanshyam Singh’s victory over BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari should therefore not be read simply as one candidate defeating another. It was the outcome of a political contradiction the BJP could never resolve.
