Prashant Kishor, the founder of Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), has made his electoral debut in the Bankipur Assembly byelection in Patna, Bihar. In a recent development, Mr. Kishor was leading by over 19,000 votes at the end of 28 rounds of counting, as per the latest reports. The byelection was necessitated after BJP leader Nitin Nabin vacated the seat following his election to the Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Kishor had announced his candidature last month, stating that if the BJP wins the election, it would be an endorsement of their policies by the people of Bihar. However, if the BJP loses, the government must accept that the people of Bihar do not approve of their conduct, character, image, and system of governance. The Bankipur constituency has been a BJP stronghold since 1995, making Mr. Kishor’s lead a significant development in Bihar’s politics.
Born on March 20, 1977, in Konar village in south-western Bihar’s Rohtas district, Mr. Kishor received his early education in Buxar district. He completed his schooling at M.P. High School in Buxar in 1991 and later attended Patna Science College, Patna University, for intermediate studies. Mr. Kishor holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Lucknow University and a Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) from the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad.
Before entering politics, Mr. Kishor worked as a public health expert in United Nations-funded programmes for eight years. He later founded the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), one of the country’s largest political consultancy firms. As a political strategist, Mr. Kishor worked for the BJP in Gujarat during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign and later for Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections. He was also appointed the vice-president of the JD(U) but publicly exited the party in 2020, citing differences over its support for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
In 2022, Mr. Kishor dissociated himself from the I-PAC and launched the Jan Suraaj Padyatra from Valmikinagar in Bihar’s West Champaran district. He later entered active politics by launching the Jan Suraaj Party at Patna’s Veterinary College ground on October 2, 2024, to contest the 2025 Assembly elections. Although the JSP didn’t win any seats in the 2025 elections, Mr. Kishor announced that he would remain in Bihar and work to strengthen his party.
The Bankipur constituency has a sizeable number of Other Backward Caste voters, including members of the Bania (trader) community, along with Yadav and Muslim voters. The constituency recorded only 34.3% turnout on July 30, with about 3.9 lakh voters. The outcome of the byelection is being closely watched, given the significance of the Bankipur constituency in Bihar’s politics.
