Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Monday targeted Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and said the Bankipur setback is a message to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as he registered a historical victory in the byelection.
In his first reaction to media after his vicotry, the election strategist-turned-politician said the BJP will remain in power despite his victory in Bankipur, as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has a thumping majority, but its defeat in the byelection has sent a message to the saffron party that Bihar deserves a "good leadership".
"This is not an election to make an MLA, this is to give the message to the top leadership of the BJP that a good person should be made CM in Bihar, so that there is education, employment in Bihar, the people gave this message," he told reporters.
I want to thank the people who voted, those who did not, I will try to win them... But important is that Bihar should get good leadership... The migration should stop from here," he added.
Kishor's big electoral debut
Kishor is all certain to win the byelection in Bankipur, which was considered a stronghold of BJP national president Nitin Nabin. Nabin has won four consecutive elections from Bankipur constituency: 2010, 2015, 2020 and 2025. However, the byelection was necessitated after Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha after becoming BJP's national president.
According to the latest data provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Kishor won the Bankipur byelection by a margin of over 19,000 votes. He has secured 64,151 votes, while BJP's low-key youth wing candidate Neeraj Kumar secured around 44,827 votes. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Rekha Kumari was a distant third with aroung 14,273 votes.
The polling for the byelection in Bankipur was held on July 30, with the seat recording a voter turnout of 34.30 per cent (around 1,30,208 voters), down by more than seven per cent from the 41.45 per cent registered in the last assembly elections.
A little less than 3.8 lakh voters, including 2,00,060 men, 1,79,533 lakh women and 23 third gender persons, were eligible to vote in the polls.
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Prashant Kishor set for stunning electoral debut in Bankipur, BJP faces major setback
