Prashant Kishore

Migrant workers, youth X factor of Bihar polls, not women: Prashant Kishor

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Saturday claimed that migrant workers and the youth are the real "X factor" of the ongoing assembly elections in Bihar, and not the women. Speaking to reporters in Supaul, the former poll strategist claimed the youth and migrant workers are determined to vote for change. "Migrant workers are coming back home in large numbers to vote along with their families. Migrant workers used to vote for the NDA in the past because they had no alternative," he said, claiming that this time, they were voting for his party. "The PM earlier used to get votes of migrant workers and people in general by spreading fear of RJD's 'jungle raj'. However, he is unable to get a sense of the current ground situation. People who apprehended the resurgence of 'jungle raj' in Bihar can see an alternative this election in Jan Suraaj," he added. Kishor claimed the 'vote chori' allegation of the Congress is a non-issue in the Bihar polls. "Ask any person on the street,

Bihar's first-time voters seek development, don't want Jungle Raj to return

Bihar Assembly elections 2025: The first-time voters, mostly students, are seeing through the facade of slogans and promises. They want change

Prashant Kishor backs rebel BJP candidate in Gopalganj ahead of Bihar polls

Anup Kumar Srivastava, a social worker and former district BJP president in Gopalganj, reportedly felt sidelined by the BJP despite his claim to contest with sufficient resources

Jan Suraaj to release second list of candidates for Bihar polls today

Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party is all set to release its second list of candidates for the Bihar assembly elections on Monday, four days after the party declared its first list. All eyes are on Raghopur seat, in Vaishali district, where sitting MLA Tejashwi Yadav aims for a hat-trick. Kishor, a former poll strategist, has been dropping hints that he might contest the seat himself. The second list is expected to end the suspense over whether Kishor would make his poll debut from Tejashwi's home turf Raghopur. Party leaders are tight-lipped about whether the candidature for Raghopur will be declared in the second list or not. Sources said the party may come out with another list of candidates in a day or two. Jan Suraaj Party on October 9 released its first list of 51 candidates, but did not confirm whether its founder Prashant Kishor would contest the polls. Prominent names in the first list included former IPS officer of Bihar cadre, R K Mishra from Darbhanga, prominent lawyer

Union minister slams Tejashwi Yadav for 'Jungleraj' under RJD rule in Bihar

Union Minister Harsh Malhotra criticises Tejashwi Yadav over RJD's past, while NDA, LJP, and JSP finalise seat-sharing ahead of elections

In Bihar Assembly poll rush, politics of plenty meets fragile finances

A string of welfare schemes and promises tests the state's budget, which is already heavily dependent on central support and spends little as capital outlay. Yash Kumar Singhal explains

Prashant Kishor calls Bihar voter list revision a 'BJP-led' conspiracy

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor waded into the political controversy surrounding the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar on Wednesday when he described the mammoth exercise as a "BJP conspiracy". Kishor made the remark in Kishanganj, the state's lone district with a Muslim majority population, and promised that his fledgling party would help those whose names get wrongfully deleted from the voters' list. Talking to reporters, he said, "The SIR is a BJP conspiracy. The Supreme Court has made it clear that Election Commission cannot determine people's citizenship. Does the Election Commission, by carrying out such an exercise now, intend to say that the electoral roll of 2014, when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, was fake?". He added, "The same electoral roll was fine till last year's Lok Sabha polls. We fail to see a problem in conducting the upcoming assembly polls on the basis of the same voters' list." "Obviously, the BJP is jittery in .

Nitish Kumar fooling people by re-announcing old schemes: Prashant Kishor

Reacting to the Bihar cabinet's approval of a 35 per cent job reservation for women, Kishor claimed the move was nothing more than a rebranding of an earlier decision

INDIA bloc to decide on Prashant Kishore's inclusion: AICC's Allavaru

Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor had called for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to resign, stating that the Janata Dal (United) chief's ability to govern has been compromised

Prashant Kishor discharged from hospital, continues with 'fast-unto-death'

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor was on Saturday discharged from a hospital in Patna following improvement in his health condition, the party said in a statement. However, the 47-year-old former political strategist is continuing with the 'fast-unto-death' that he launched on January 2 in protest against alleged irregularities in a BPSC exam held last month. "Prashant Kishor's 'anshan' (fast) in support of BPSC aspirants continues. He has been discharged from the hospital in the evening as his health has improved. Further details about his 'satyagraha' will be made known tomorrow," the statement said. Notably, Kishor was admitted to the private hospital on Tuesday, a day after his arrest by the police for staging a dharna at a site in the city where such agitations are prohibited, and grant of bail by a court hours later. He was kept in the ICU for a day, before being shifted to the general ward, even as his party colleagues urged the aspirants and Bihar Chief Minister Niti

Jan Suraaj Party moves Patna HC, seeks cancellation of BPSC exams

Amid Prashant Kishor's fast unto death over alleged irregularities in the Bihar PSC exams, his Jan Suraaj Party has moved the Patna High Court, seeking cancellation of the competitive tests, his counsel said on Friday. Advocate Pranav Kumar said the petition, highlighting "irregularities in the Combined Competitive Exams held on December 13", has been posted for hearing on January 15. "The case was mentioned today before the single-judge bench of Justice Arvind Singh Chandel. The matter has been posted for hearing on January 15," he told PTI-Bhasha. "We have highlighted large-scale irregularities in the exams held across the state, citing instances of people carrying mobile phones inside examination halls where there were no jammers. At many places, several examinees solved their question papers huddled together," he alleged. Kumar claimed that "such irregularities" were reported from many examination centres and not just Bapu Pariksha Parisar where many candidates had boycotted th

Prashant Kishor's health condition now stable, aides urge him to end fast

The health condition of Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, who was admitted to the ICU of a hospital in Patna after leading a fast unto death, was stable on Tuesday night and intravenous fluid was being administered to him, doctors treating him said. Leaders of his party, Pavan K Varma and YV Giri, visited him in the evening and said that they had urged him to end his fast as his well-being was necessary. "We have asked Prashant Kishor to consider taking normal food and protect his health. His fight is commendable, but Bihar faces many problems and his well-being is necessary for a prolonged struggle," said Varma. "The CM's unwillingness to meet a five-member delegation of BPSC aspirants shows his insensitivity. He is the guardian of the state, but not willing to meet protesting aspirants," he added. Jay Prabha Medanta Hospital's Medical Director Ravi Shankar Singh said if Kishor's condition improved, he might be brought out of the ICU on Wednesday, but his discharge from th

SC refuses to hear BPSC paper leak row plea, asks petitioner to approach HC

A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, stated that the Supreme Court could not be the first forum for every issue and emphasised the importance of approaching the high court

Prashant Kishor arrested for 'illegal' fast, refuses bail over conditions

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor was on Monday arrested for his illegal fast unto death and sent to jail upon refusal to accept bail, granted by a court here with conditions that were deemed "unreasonable". The 47-year-old, who was last week booked for holding 'Aamaran anshan' (fast unto death) at Gandhi Maidan, in violation of a Patna High Court order that forbids any such demonstration at a place other than Gardani Bagh locality in the city, declared that he would continue his agitation from behind bars. Senior lawyer Y V Giri, who is actively associated with Kishor's party, said the bail was granted with an unreasonable condition that Kishor must give a written undertaking, which would have been tantamount to admitting guilt. The former poll strategist, who started his fast unto death on January 2, demanding, among other things, cancellation of the Combined Competitive Examination conducted last month by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), was rounded up along wit

BPSC aspirants, police clash in Patna; case filed against Prashant Kishor

Thousands of BPSC aspirants protested at Patna's Gandhi Maidan, demanding a re-examination of the 70th prelims; police used lathi-charge, water cannons as protesters broke barricades

Prashant Kishore joins BPSC protest, slams Bihar govt's 'lathi-tantra'

Earlier, on Saturday, Delhi Police detained members of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) protesting outside Bihar Bhawan against the lathi charge on BPSC aspirants in Patna

I-PAC returns to Delhi to back AAP in its bid to keep the state's crown

The primary focus of the campaign will be to counter the 'anti-incumbency' narrative created by Opposition parties in the state against AAP

Bihar a failed state: Prashant Kishor tells Bihari diaspora in US

Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor has said Bihar is "literally a failed state" which is in "deep shit" and tremendous efforts are required for its all-round development. In a virtual interaction with the Bihari diaspora community after the launch of the US chapter of the Jan Suraaj, the former poll strategist exuded confidence that his party would win the 2025 Bihar Assembly polls and said that he would lift the ban on alcohol and use the revenue to improve school education. "We have to realise that this (Bihar) is a state which is in deep shit. If Bihar were a country, it would be the 11th largest country in terms of population in the world. We have just overtaken Japan in terms of population," Kishor told the gathering. He said the biggest challenge is that society has become "hopeless" about improving the situation of Bihar. "When you become hopeless, the immediate survival needs become so overpowering that nothing (else) matters," he said. However, Kishor said, not all is ...

Bihar bypolls: NDA sweeps all 4 seats, Prashant Kishore's Jan Suraaj flops

The ruling NDA in Bihar on Saturday swept the bypolls to four assembly segments, retaining Imamganj and wresting from the INDIA bloc Tarari, Ramgarh and Belaganj, receiving a boost ahead of the assembly elections due next year. Candidates of the Jan Suraaj, floated recently by former political strategist Prashant Kishor with much fanfare, lost deposits in all but one seat, in a clear indication that the fledgling party, despite claims of taking the political landscape in the state by storm, needs to cover much ground. The biggest setback for the INDIA bloc, helmed by the RJD, came in Belaganj, a seat the party had been winning since its inception in the 1990s, but this time lost to the JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the arch-rival of its founding president Lalu Prasad. The JD(U) candidate Manorama Devi, a former MLC, defeated by a margin of more than 21,000 votes RJD's Vishwanath Kumar Singh who made his debut from a seat that fell vacant upon election to Lok Sabha of

Prashant Kishor announces launch of political outfit 'Jan Suraaj Party'

Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday announced the launch of his political outfit Jan Suraaj Party, a much-anticipated move by which he hopes to take the political landscape in Bihar by storm. The party was launched at Veterinary College Ground in the state capital in presence of many renowned figures, including former Union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav, diplomat-turned-politician Pavan Varma and ex-MP Monazir Hassan. The party was floated exactly two years after Kishor had embarked on a more than 3,000-km-long 'padayatra' of the state, from Champaran where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the first Satyagraha in the country, in a bid to mobilise the people for a "new political alternative" that could cure Bihar of its chronic backwardness.