PATNA: Political strategist-turned-Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor scripted a historic electoral debut on Monday, winning the by-poll for Bihar’s prestigious Bankipur Assembly Constituency, dealing a big blow to the BJP, which had held the seat since 1995.
The defeat, coming days after the massive Gen Z protests across the country, was even more stinging because the seat was last held by BJP president Nitin Nabin, whose elevation necessitated the by-poll on August 30.
Kishor, who got 64,151 votes, defeated BJP’s Neeraj Kumar by 19,324 votes, while Rekha Gupta of RJD was a distant third with 14,273 votes.
“The victory is a wake-up call for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who must install a new Chief Minister in place of Samrat Choudhary, a man with criminal antecedents,” said Kishor, who had first shot to fame for managing Modi’s 2014 Lok Sabha campaign, and has been a vocal critic of Chaudhary.
For the 49-year-old, this was a satisfying reversal of fortunes. In the Assembly elections, which he did not contest, his party had failed to win any seats. When he entered the fray this time, Kishor announced that he saw the by-election as a “referendum” on the BJP-led government in the State.
The by-poll was necessitated by the resignation of BJP national president Nitin Nabin, whose late father, Navin Chandra Sinha, began the party’s winning streak in 1995, when the seat was known as “Patna seat”.
Kishor’s victory was hailed as “a lesson to the arrogant BJP” even by those outside his party, like CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, whose party is an INDIA bloc partner.
“The verdict in Bankipur must be viewed in the backdrop of the wider dissatisfaction with the BJP, which recently got reflected in the students’ protests. Of course, credit must also be given to Kishor, who displayed enormous energy and organisational skills,” said veteran socialist leader Shivanand Tiwary, who had been one of the foremost participants in the ‘JP movement’ of the 1970s and has been with parties like RJD and JD(U).
Chief Minister Chaudhary said, “In the grand festival of democracy, the people have chosen Jan Suraaj. I respect the people’s verdict and extend my heartfelt congratulations to Prashant Kishor ji on his victory.”