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Prashant Kishor to finally contest an election
Prashant Kishor to finally contest an election himself? Jan Suraaj Party targets Bankipur, via an ashram
Prashant Kishor to finally contest an election himself? Jan Suraaj Party targets Bankipur, via an ashram
Kishor is bullish on Bankipur, and claimed that only the Jan Suraaj Party can defeat the BJP there. "We just need to field a strong candidate," he said.
Updated on: May 25, 2026 2:02 PM IST By Aarish Chhabra Share via Copy link For a man who made a career out of engineering other people's electoral victories, Prashant Kishor has been conspicuously absent from a poll result sheet, as a winner or loser. With a bypoll in Bihar set to take place anytime now, that may be about to change, though PK is keeping people guessing so far. Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor's JSP drew a blank in Bihar assembly elections 2025. (PTI File Photo) The poll strategist who became the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) said on Saturday that his party has decided "in principle" to contest the upcoming bypoll to the Bankipur assembly seat in Patna, vacated by BJP's Nitin Nabin after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and elevated to the post of the party's national president in January. Pointedly asked whether he would be the candidate himself, Kishor offered a line he's used before: “It is a decision for the party to take.” This was the answer he gave ahead of the Bihar assembly elections in 2025, and he did not contest then. But the political context is now starkly different. Bankipur is a BJP fortress. Nabin, who first won the seat in a 2006 bypoll after his father's death, retained it for a fifth consecutive term last year, defeating RJD candidate Rekha Kumari by a margin of nearly 52,000 votes and securing 62.66% of the total vote share. The JSP had fielded Vandana Kumari, a 37-year-old debutant from the business community, who finished a distant third.‘Only need strong candidate’
Kishor is nonetheless bullish on Bankipur, and claimed that only the Jan Suraaj Party can defeat the BJP there. "Our party believes we just need to field a strong candidate," he told reporters in Patna on Saturday, “The RJD and the Congress have been losing the seat by massive margins.” He saw the bypoll as a test for the new BJP-JD(U) regime under Samrat Choudhary who recently replaced Nitish Kumar as CM. “[The bypol] will be held by the time the NDA would have completed seven to eight months in power. So, the bypoll would be a referendum on the first year of the government,” he said. In the 2025 elections in Bihar, the JSP contested 238 of 243 assembly seats and failed to win a single one. Its overall vote share was over 3%. In many segments, its candidates received fewer votes than NOTA, meaning None of the Above. Kishor had predicted the outcome in strictly binary terms, saying repeatedly that it would be either "arsh par ya farsh par", right at the top or flat on the floor.PK's big moves since big defeat
In the aftermath of a wipeout, the party, technically led by Uday Singh with PK as de facto supremo, dissolved all its organisational units from the panchayat level upwards. Kishor undertook a silent fast at the Bhitiharwa Ashram in West Champaran, set up by Mahatma Gandhi a century ago, and the same spot where he had launched his 3,500-km ‘padyatra’ or foor march three years earlier when he entered politics fulltime after a brief stint as JD(U) vice-president under Nitish's leadership. More recently, PK announced more prolonged retreat, and moved to an ashram on the outskirts of Patna, declaring it his primary base of operations until the JSP firmly establishes its presence ahead of the next Bihar assembly elections due in 2030. The move also raised questions about his rift with JSP national president Uday Singh, whose Patna residence Kishor vacated before shifting to the ashram. Uday Singh has since announced a “one-year break from active politics”. Prasjant Kishor has denied any falling-out, and told reporters, “Uday Singh is like a brother to me, besides being a senior party colleague. We respect his wish to take a break.” Uday Singh had earlier said the reason behind the BJP-led NDA's massive majority “is the distribution of money by the government”. Kishor, however, has made other moves that raise further questions on his future plans. A recent visit to Maharashtra deputy CM Sunetra Pawar in Mumbai — he was once a consultant to her late husband Ajit Pawar-led NCP — sparked speculation about a return to consultancy. Parth Pawar, Sunetra's son, clarified on social media that Kishor is “like a brother”, and the visit was a personal lunch with no political angles. Earlier during the asembly polls in late 2025, Kishor had said he had not contested the assembly polls himself because “the party felt I should concentrate on organisational work”. A bypoll in Bankipur must be held within six months of the seat falling vacant, as per the law. Nabin resigned at the end of March. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Aarish Chhabra Aarish Chhabra is an Associate Editor with the Hindustan Times online team, writing news reports and explanatory articles, besides overseeing coverage for the website. His career spans nearly two decades across India's most respected newsrooms in print, digital, and broadcast. He has reported, written, and edited across formats — from breaking news and live election coverage, to analytical long-reads and cultural commentary — building a body of work that reflects both editorial rigour and a deep curiosity about the society he writes for. Aarish studied English literature, sociology and history, besides journalism, at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and started his career in that city, eventually moving to Delhi. He is also the author of ‘The Big Small Town: How Life Looks from Chandigarh’, a collection of critical essays originally serialised as a weekly column in the Hindustan Times, examining the culture and politics of a city that is far more than its famous architecture — and, in doing so, holding up a mirror to modern India. In stints at the BBC, The Indian Express, NDTV, and Jagran New Media, he worked across formats and languages; mainly English, also Hindi and Punjabi. He was part of the crack team for the BBC Explainer project replicated across the world by the broadcaster. At Jagran, he developed editorial guides and trained journalists on integrity and content quality. He has also worked at the intersection of journalism and education. At the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, he developed a website that simplified academic research in management. At Bennett University's Times School of Media in Noida, he taught students the craft of digital journalism: from newsgathering and writing, to social media strategy and video storytelling. Having moved from a small town to a bigger town to a mega city for education and work, his intellectual passions lie at the intersection of society, politics, and popular culture — a perspective that informs both his writing and his view of the world. When not working, he is constantly reading long-form journalism or watching brainrot content, sometimes both at the same time.Read More Prashant Kishor Bihar Assembly Election Check India news real-time updates, latest news, CBSE 12th Result 2026 LIVE from India on Hindustan Times and more across India. Home/India News/Prashant Kishor To Finally Contest An Election Himself? Jan Suraaj Party Targets Bankipur, Via An Ashram See LessFor a man who made a career out of engineering other people's electoral victories, Prashant Kishor has been conspicuously absent from a poll result sheet, as a winner or loser. With a bypoll in Bihar set to take place anytime now, that may be about to change, though PK is keeping people guessing so far.
The poll strategist who became the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) said on Saturday that his party has decided "in principle" to contest the upcoming bypoll to the Bankipur assembly seat in Patna, vacated by BJP's Nitin Nabin after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and elevated to the post of the party's national president in January.
Pointedly asked whether he would be the candidate himself, Kishor offered a line he's used before: “It is a decision for the party to take.” This was the answer he gave ahead of the Bihar assembly elections in 2025, and he did not contest then. But the political context is now starkly different.
Bankipur is a BJP fortress. Nabin, who first won the seat in a 2006 bypoll after his father's death, retained it for a fifth consecutive term last year, defeating RJD candidate Rekha Kumari by a margin of nearly 52,000 votes and securing 62.66% of the total vote share. The JSP had fielded Vandana Kumari, a 37-year-old debutant from the business community, who finished a distant third.
"Our party believes we just need to field a strong candidate," he told reporters in Patna on Saturday, “The RJD and the Congress have been losing the seat by massive margins.”
He saw the bypoll as a test for the new BJP-JD(U) regime under Samrat Choudhary who recently replaced Nitish Kumar as CM.
“[The bypol] will be held by the time the NDA would have completed seven to eight months in power. So, the bypoll would be a referendum on the first year of the government,” he said.
In the 2025 elections in Bihar, the JSP contested 238 of 243 assembly seats and failed to win a single one. Its overall vote share was over 3%. In many segments, its candidates received fewer votes than NOTA, meaning None of the Above. Kishor had predicted the outcome in strictly binary terms, saying repeatedly that it would be either "arsh par ya farsh par", right at the top or flat on the floor.
Kishor undertook a silent fast at the Bhitiharwa Ashram in West Champaran, set up by Mahatma Gandhi a century ago, and the same spot where he had launched his 3,500-km ‘padyatra’ or foor march three years earlier when he entered politics fulltime after a brief stint as JD(U) vice-president under Nitish's leadership.
More recently, PK announced more prolonged retreat, and moved to an ashram on the outskirts of Patna, declaring it his primary base of operations until the JSP firmly establishes its presence ahead of the next Bihar assembly elections due in 2030.
The move also raised questions about his rift with JSP national president Uday Singh, whose Patna residence Kishor vacated before shifting to the ashram. Uday Singh has since announced a “one-year break from active politics”.
Prasjant Kishor has denied any falling-out, and told reporters, “Uday Singh is like a brother to me, besides being a senior party colleague. We respect his wish to take a break.” Uday Singh had earlier said the reason behind the BJP-led NDA's massive majority “is the distribution of money by the government”.
Kishor, however, has made other moves that raise further questions on his future plans. A recent visit to Maharashtra deputy CM Sunetra Pawar in Mumbai — he was once a consultant to her late husband Ajit Pawar-led NCP — sparked speculation about a return to consultancy. Parth Pawar, Sunetra's son, clarified on social media that Kishor is “like a brother”, and the visit was a personal lunch with no political angles.
Earlier during the asembly polls in late 2025, Kishor had said he had not contested the assembly polls himself because “the party felt I should concentrate on organisational work”.
A bypoll in Bankipur must be held within six months of the seat falling vacant, as per the law. Nabin resigned at the end of March.
Source: HindustanTimes
Related Posts: Prashant Kishor,Bankipur assembly seat,Jan Suraaj Party,Bihar assembly elections,BJP fortress
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