New Delhi: The Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) is exploring the option of its founder Prashant Kishor contesting the Bankipur assembly bypoll in Bihar, ThePrint has learnt.
The Bankipur Assembly seat fell vacant after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Nitin Nabin resigned as MLA following his election to Rajya Sabha in April 2026. The byelection will be held on 30 July.
JSP sources said the party leadership is keen that Kishor, a former poll strategist, contests the election, and a formal announcement could be made on 5 July.
“We are viewing this bypoll as some sort of a referendum, the results will indicate what the public want and how they have viewed the Samrat Choudhary government’s work so far. At the same time, these elections are being held under the leadership of BJP chief Nitin Nabin. As far as the JSP is concerned, we have nothing to lose in this battle,” said a senior party leader.
Speaking to the media Thursday, JSP Bihar president Manoj Bharti said a final decision on Kishor contesting from Bankipur will be announced on 5 July. “Party leaders and workers want Prashant Kishor himself to contest,” Bharti added.
Another party leader said the bypoll gives the JSP an opportunity to virtually pit Kishor against BJP party president Nabin as his family has held the seat for multiple terms. He further said the party wants to use the bypoll as a form of ‘experiment’ or a test.
“This is the time to see whether what the JSP has been doing is resonating with the public or not. Whether it is law and order issues, healthcare, infrastructure-related issues or the most important issue of jobs and migration. This will tell us whether the public is ready for the alternative that JSP and Kishor want to provide and whether there is still scope for experiments in democracies like India,” he added.
In the assembly elections last year, Kishor’s party fielded candidates in 238 of the 243 seats, but he did not contest the poll. The party drew a blank, getting just 3.4 percent vote share.
The BJP on the other hand is quite confident of doing well once again and a senior party functionary said Nabin will shortlist the Bankipur candidate keeping in mind his family’s old connection with the constituency.
“Considering our poor show in the Bihar elections, winning this seat would be a symbolic victory and it will also ensure that Kishor can highlight issues related to Bihar in the assembly. Ye sirf ek MLA ki baat nahi hai lekin alternative politics ki baat hai (It’s not just about getting an MLA, but about alternative politics,” said another JSP leader.
“Distressed by the BJP’s misgovernance, the people of Bankipur are demanding that Prashant Kishor contest the election from this constituency. Party leaders and workers also desire that Prashant Kishor—the architect of the Jan Suraj campaign—contest the Bankipur assembly by-election as the party’s candidate,” Bharti said.
The constituency also assumes significance as the high-profile seat is considered a BJP stronghold. It was earlier known as the Patna West assembly constituency and Nabin’s father, senior BJP leader Kishore Prasad Sinha, won it multiple times from 1995 until his demise in 2006.
Nabin entered electoral politics after his father’s demise, first winning the seat in a 2006 by-election, and he has won it since then.
More than 25 percent of voters in Bankipur belong to Nabin’s Kayastha community. The constituency also has a sizable upper-caste mix of Bhumihars and Rajputs, apart from Yadavs and Kurmis.
“The JSP hopes to challenge this equation, considering Kishor also comes from the Brahmin community and being a prominent face, it is focusing on the young, urban and aspirational voters. The party has been focusing its campaign on issues such as unemployment to connect with the voters,” explained a leader.
“The seat is considered a bastion of the BJP and it has not lost it over the past few decades. For the BJP also it is a matter of prestige and which is why we will also put all our efforts in ensuring that we reach out to every nook and corner of the constituency,” another leader explained.
Speaking to ThePrint, JSP spokesperson Vivek Kumar termed the bypoll “a watershed moment in Indian politics”.
“See, bypolls generally tend to favour the incumbent government, but they also give the common people an opportunity to express that they are unhappy with the government. Bihar is a unique case. The people did not elect Samrat Choudhary as the chief minister. They voted with Nitish Kumar as the face of the election, and then Samrat was made chief minister. This bypoll is, therefore, a referendum on one year of his tenure as CM,” he said.
“Secondly, Bankipur is the constituency of the BJP’s national president and for the past 40 years, the seat has remained with the BJP. So the result of the seat will serve as a reminder to political leaders that they must always remain accountable to the people,” he said.
Kishor has often criticised Choudhary in the past. He recently targeted him over the alleged fake police encounter of 28-year-old Bharat Bhushan Tiwari in Bhojpur district.
Ahead of last year’s elections, he had accused Choudhary of never passing his matriculation exam. Following these allegations, the BJP had got an FIR registered against Kishor, accusing him of damaging Choudhary’s reputation.
“Nitin Nabin has been elected from this seat, despite being represented by the same party for 40 years, the condition of the constituency remains extremely poor. This bypoll will show a path to Bihar and also to the current dispensation that you are dispensable and if you don’t perform you will be removed. In Prashant Kishor, we are giving the voters the best possible candidate,” he added.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also Read: Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj sees an opening with bypoll in Bankipur seat vacated by BJP’s Nabin