The newly launched Jan Suraaj Party, led by political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor, faced a disappointing debut in the Bihar bypolls, with candidates losing their deposits in three of the four contested seats. Despite the fanfare surrounding its October 2 launch, the party struggled to make a significant impact, managing a credible third-place finish only in the reserved Imamganj seat.
Meanwhile, the ruling NDA swept all four seats, retaining Imamganj and wresting Tarari, Ramgarh, and Belaganj from the INDIA alliance, further consolidating Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s political dominance.
The bypoll results revealed significant challenges for the fledgling Jan Suraaj Party. The highest vote share it secured was in Imamganj, where candidate Jitendra Paswan polled over 20%, finishing third. However, in Belaganj, Ramgarh, and Tarari, the party garnered less than 4% of the vote, signaling limited ground presence in key constituencies.
Kishor, however, downplayed the setback, claiming the party secured “10% of the total votes polled” across the four seats. He attributed the modest performance to the party’s lack of organizational groundwork in those areas and the absence of a recognized poll symbol at the time of nominations.
The NDA’s decisive performance delivered blows to the opposition INDIA alliance, particularly the RJD, which lost its stronghold in Belaganj for the first time since the 1990s. JD(U) candidate Manorama Devi defeated RJD’s Vishwanath Kumar Singh by over 21,000 votes, marking a significant victory for the NDA.
In Ramgarh, the BJP reclaimed the seat with Ashok Kumar Singh emerging victorious. RJD candidate Ajit Singh, son of state RJD president Jagadanand Singh, finished a distant third, validating Kishor’s earlier prediction of a poor RJD performance.
Tarari, a CPI(ML) bastion, also fell to the BJP. Vishal Prashant, son of former JD(U) strongman Sunil Pandey, defeated the CPI(ML) candidate by over 10,000 votes, further underscoring the NDA’s electoral gains.
Prashant Kishor dismissed allegations that Jan Suraaj contributed to the INDIA alliance’s defeats, arguing that his party primarily split NDA votes in constituencies like Imamganj. He accused the RJD of failing to connect with voters despite its decades-long presence in Bihar’s political landscape.
“The RJD is a 30-year-old party. Its state president’s son finished third. Can Jan Suraaj be faulted for that?” Kishor remarked, adding that the JD(U)’s win in Belaganj was driven by Muslim voters backing Manorama Devi, not his party’s influence.
Kishor remains optimistic about the future, reiterating plans to contest all 243 seats in the 2025 Assembly elections. “We’ve proved a point in a state known for voting along caste lines. The journey has just begun,” he said, vowing to expand the party’s reach through his ongoing padyatra.
As the dust settles on the bypolls, the results underscore the NDA’s firm grip on Bihar’s political landscape while raising questions about the INDIA alliance’s strategy. For Prashant Kishor and the Jan Suraaj Party, the bypolls serve as a critical reality check, highlighting the steep road ahead in establishing themselves as a serious political contender in the state
