Prashant Kishor storms BJP's Bankipur fortress, wins debut electoral battle

Jan Suraaj chief hands BJP its first defeat in Patna seat since it was carved out in 2008

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday lost the electoral battle for the prestigious Bankipur Assembly seat in Bihar’s Patna, a constituency that has been the party’s bastion since it was carved out in 2008 and was represented by its National President Nitin Nabin for four consecutive terms from 2010 to 2025.

 

The BJP also failed to wrest the Datia seat from the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. Its only consolation came from Gujarat, where it retained Vadodara’s Manjalpur seat. Polling for the three seats across three states, all of which have BJP chief ministers (CMs), took place on July 30, and the votes were counted on Monday.

 

 

In Bankipur, an Assembly segment in the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha (LS) constituency, Jan Suraaj Party’s (JSP’s) Prashant Kishor defeated the BJP’s Neeraj Kumar Sinha by 19,324 votes. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate finished a distant third.

 

It was the first Assembly bypoll in Bihar after the BJP’s Samrat Choudhary replaced Janata Dal (United)’s Nitish Kumar as the state’s CM on April 15. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had contested the October-November Bihar Assembly polls under Kumar’s leadership.

 

The Bankipur bypoll was also Kishor’s electoral debut. His party, the JSP, had performed poorly in the October-November 2025 Bihar Assembly polls. Of the 238 candidates it fielded, 236 forfeited their deposits. The win could revive Kishor’s political career. The election strategist was criticised last year for not contesting as a candidate in the October-November 2025 Bihar Assembly polls.

 

The Bankipur seat was carved out of the Patna West seat, which Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha, the BJP national president’s father, represented from 1995 to 2005. Nabin won the Patna West bypoll in 2006, which was necessitated by his father’s death. In that bypoll, Nabin secured 82 per cent of the votes polled. He went on to win successive elections from Bankipur, a predominantly urban seat, with vote shares exceeding 59 per cent. Nabin vacated the seat after being elected to the Rajya Sabha in April.

 

After his victory, Kishor ruled out the possibility of joining any political alliance. He claimed that his win in the Bankipur Assembly bypoll was made possible “with the backing of” disgruntled supporters of parties such as the BJP, the Congress, and the RJD.

 

“You should see that the people of Bankipur have voted for us by giving up on established parties,” Kishor said. He said the bypoll was “not an election to make an MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly)” but an attempt by the people of Bihar to send a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who “must install a new CM in place of Choudhary”. Kishor alleged that the Bihar CM has “criminal antecedents”.

 

“The people of Bihar have already given the NDA 202 MLAs and a full majority. Now they expect the BJP leadership to think about Bihar’s children, education, employment, and migration, and appoint a capable, honest, and clean CM instead of someone with a tainted image,” he said.

 

The BJP fielded Neeraj Kumar Sinha, a low-key BJP youth wing leader, after its initial choice, Abhishek ‘Bunty’, withdrew his candidature.

 

In Datia, the Congress’ Ghanshyam Singh defeated the BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari by a little over 6,000 votes. Former state home minister and BJP leader Narottam Mishra represented the Datia seat in 2008, 2013, and 2018, but lost the 2023 election to the Congress’ Rajendra Bharti, who was later disqualified after being convicted in a criminal case.

 

Mishra’s supporters blocked a highway in Datia for a few hours on July 11 after he was denied the party ticket. Congress leaders linked the victory to an “awakening” among students and other sections of society. Azad Samaj Party candidate Damodar Yadav finished third.

 

Madhya Pradesh BJP President Hemant Khandelwal said, “Discipline is paramount in the BJP. All our workers are equal. The party will take action based on the conclusions reached after the review.”

 

Singh hails from the erstwhile Datia royal family. He had earlier represented the Datia and Sevda seats. His father, Maharaj Krishna Singh Judeo, was elected to the LS from the Bhind-Datia constituency on a Congress ticket in 1984.

 

In Gujarat's Manjalpur, the BJP’s Satendra Patel defeated the Congress candidate by a little over 30,000 votes. There were only two candidates in the fray. BJP’s Yogesh Patel, who passed away in June, had represented Manjalpur ever since it was carved out in 2008.