Prashant Kishor trounces Lalu Yadav, Nitish Kumar in Bankipur. But there's a twist
Prashant Kishor did not merely breach the BJP’s Bankipur fortress on Monday. The election strategist-turned-politician also managed something no one can claim in Bihar politics
Prashant Kishor did not merely breach the BJP’s Bankipur fortress on Monday. The election strategist-turned-politician also managed something no one can claim in Bihar politics: he defeated both Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar in the same election. No, not the two political heavyweights of Bihar. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, who contested the Bankipur bypoll, were Independent candidates and namesakes of the two former Bihar Chief Ministers. Read Full Story While Kishor polled 64,151 votes, Independent candidates Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav secured just 149 and 81 votes respectively.
The two namesakes never came close to troubling the Jan Suraaj founder, who maintained a comfortable lead over his nearest rival, BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar, through the 36 rounds of counting. Once the namesake drama was out of the way, Kishor had a much bigger reason to celebrate. The 49-year-old defeated Kumar by 19,324 votes, securing Jan Suraaj’s first electoral victory and ending the BJP’s uninterrupted 35-year hold over one of its strongest bastions in Bihar.
Kishor received 64,151 votes against Sinha’s 44,827, while RJD candidate Rekha Kumari finished a distant third with 14,273 votes. The bypoll was necessitated after BJP President Nitin Nabin resigned before entering the Rajya Sabha. Kishor’s victory followed months of groundwork, including public meetings, door-to-door campaigning and booth-level mobilisation across the constituency. Throughout the campaign, Kishor projected the election as a “referendum on the Samrat Choudhary government”, focusing on employment, education and governance while making a direct pitch to first-time and Gen Z voters.
The BJP, meanwhile, treated Bankipur as a prestige contest, deploying around 40 "Star Campaigners" and thousands of workers to defend the seat. In the end, however, Kishor defeated the BJP, opened Jan Suraaj’s electoral account and, technically speaking, got the better of both Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar on the same day. Ends
The BriefWire