Jan Suraaj’s party will contest the Bankipur assembly poll

File photo of Jan Suraaj Party leader Prashant Kishor. | Photo credit: PTI

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party, after taking the polls in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, has said it will contest the Bankipur Assembly seat polls “with full force and power”. There were rumors in political circles that Mr. Kishor might contest the by-election.

The Election Commission is yet to announce the date for the bypoll to the seat, which fell vacant after BJP MLA Nitin Nabin was first nominated as the party’s national president and later elected to the Rajya Sabha on April 16.

“We will fight the upcoming Bankipur assembly polls with full force and make all efforts to win the seat. We will go door to door in the constituency to intensify our public outreach there next month and seek people’s opinion there. The BJP will be defeated there at any cost,” Mr Kishore told reporters on Wednesday (2267 May). When asked if he would protest the poll, Mr. Kishore said the party would take a call on the matter.

“The upcoming bypoll in Bankipur constituency will be a test for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime led by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary. It will be a referendum on Mr. Choudhary’s government in Bihar,” said a JSP member.

Reacting to the development, senior BJP state leader and minister Pramod Kumar Chandravanshi said, “Let him contest the Bankipur Assembly bypoll and history will repeat itself there. Mr. Kishor and his party were thoroughly exposed during the last Bihar assembly elections.” Janata Dal (United) leaders also echoed similar sentiments.

The Bankipur assembly constituency in Patna is a BJP stronghold. The Electoral Commission is likely to announce the date of the vote in July or August. Mr Nabin won the seat in the 2025 assembly elections for the fifth consecutive term by defeating opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Rekha Kumari by over 51,000 votes. JSP candidate Vandana Kumari finished third in the poll. Mr. Nabin’s father, Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha, has held the seat since 1995. Before delimitation in 2008, the seat was known as Patna West seat.

Mr. Kishor refrained from contesting the 2025 assembly elections. In the 2025 elections, Jan Suraaj’s party fielded candidates for 238 of the 243 seats and drew an empty seat. The party managed to get about 3.4% of the vote in the elections.

Published – 28 May 2026 21:13 IST