Prashant Kishor Seeks to Rewire Bihar Politics with Bankipur Bypoll Gamble
Prashant Kishor files nomination papers for the Bankipur Assembly bypoll in Bihar. (Image Jan Suraj on X)
By MANISH ANAND
Prashant Kishor has finally entered the electoral arena after avoiding the 2025 Assembly elections. Can a victory in Bankipur revive Jan Suraj and reshape Bihar’s political future? Here’s the analysis.
New Delhi, July 13, 2026 — Jan Suraj founder Prashant Kishor’s grave tactical error in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections arguably was his reluctance to contest polls. In 2025, Kishor sought to dictate terms of the state politics without entering the electoral ring himself. The people rejected his political formulations for the state. The lesson seems to have been learnt, as Kishor on Monday filed his nomination papers for the Bankipur Assembly byelections in the Patna district.
Kishor looks a political heavyweight when his profile is seen with rivals — Neeraj Sinha of the BJP and Rekha Kumari of the RJD. With Bankipur being an urban constituency, Kishor should find the seat comfortable to win.
The BJP by fielding an almost anonymous face against Kishor may have made the task of the Jan Suraj party easier. Indeed, the Bankipur Assembly seat is a BJP pocket borough, as the saffron outfit won the seat even the heydays of the RJD and its Mandal politics in the state. Naveen Kishore Prasad Sinha raised the saffron flag from Bankipur seat when lalu Prasad’s lantern swept through the state. Later, Sinha’s son, Nitin Nabin, won the seat on five occasions.
But the emotional chord of the people with late Sinha, which helped Nabin establish himself in the state politics, now is broken, as the BJP sprung a surprise in Neeraj Sinha, who himself came as a replacement of another little-known Abhishek Sinha.
By not fielding a formidable candidate from the prestigious seat, the BJP has sent a mixed signal — Nabin not wanting a high-profile party leader building his career from Bankipur, and also that the party is not excessively worried even if Kishor wins the elections.
With Bankipur commanding a dominating Kayashtha caste electorate, Kishor, who is a Brahmin, may need to work on the caste arithmetic to win his maiden election. His profile of an educated and argumentative politician is likely to resonate among the electorate of Bankipur seat.
Jan Suraj’s first electoral foray had given a positive message for the party, as its nominees in byelections ahead of Assembly elections were instrumental in the defeat of the RJD candidates. That singular achievement gave Kishor a key position in the Bihar politics.
In the 2025 Assembly elections, Kishor’s outfit score a perfect zero in the poll verdict, but he played an instrumental role in building a narrative against the RJD and the Jungle Raj associated with Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The BJP will not be excessively upset if the party’s nominee loses and Kishor wins from Bankipur, as Bihar politics is entering a phase of generational change. With Nitish Kumar almost in a state of political retirement and Lalu Prasad Yadav ailing, the socialist bloc, consisting of the RJD and the JD (U), will be facing challenges of leadership transition.
Kishor arrives at such a fragile political juncture where he has a realistic prospect of grabbing the space revealed due to the prevailing crisis in the RJD and the JD (U). The BJP generally is averse to a state of bipolarity in politics, and the party prefers multiple actors to split anti-saffron votes. In this backdrop, Kishor’s electoral plunge gives an opportunity to revive the fortunes of his Jan Suraj.
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