Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor has maintained a commanding lead over BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha after eight rounds of counting in the Bankipur bypoll, signaling a potential upset in a long-standing BJP stronghold.
BY PC Bureau
PATNA/ August 3, 2026: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor strengthened his position in the high-stakes Bankipur Assembly bypoll on Monday, opening up a commanding lead over BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha after eight rounds of counting in a contest that could reshape Bihar’s political landscape.
According to trends released by the Election Commission, Kishor has led in every round of counting so far. At the end of the eighth round, he had polled 15,671 votes, while Sinha trailed with 10,800 votes. RJD candidate Rekha Gupta remained a distant third with around 2,700 votes, making the contest increasingly appear to be a direct fight between the Jan Suraaj Party and the BJP.
Although counting is still underway and the final outcome is yet to be declared, Kishor’s consistent lead has raised the possibility of a major upset in what has long been regarded as one of the BJP’s safest urban constituencies.
The bypoll was necessitated after BJP national president Nitin Nabin resigned as the Bankipur MLA following his election to the Rajya Sabha in April. Voting was held on July 30.
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The BJP’s campaign witnessed an unusual last-minute twist when the party replaced its original nominee, Abhishek Bunty, with Neeraj Kumar Sinha less than 24 hours after announcing the first candidate. The party then mounted an intensive campaign, deploying senior leaders and relying on Nitin Nabin’s personal influence in the constituency to retain the seat.
Bankipur has remained a BJP stronghold for decades. Formerly known as Patna West, the constituency was represented several times by Kishore Prasad Sinha, Nitin Nabin’s father, from 1995 until his death in 2006. Nitin Nabin subsequently entered electoral politics, winning the 2006 by-election before retaining the seat in five successive elections. In the 2025 Bihar Assembly election, he defeated the RJD candidate by nearly 50,000 votes, and the BJP had hoped to expand that margin in the bypoll.
🚨 BIG BREAKING
Prashant Kishor has humiliated BJP in their 30 year old bastion #Bankipur
PK leads in 9 consecutive rounds of counting
He is now leading by 5400 votes 🔥🔥
Godi media will call it masterstroke 🤣 pic.twitter.com/RkLVWAmhjy
— Amock_ (@Amockx2022) August 3, 2026
The constituency’s social composition has traditionally favoured the BJP. More than a quarter of its electorate belongs to the Kayastha community, to which Nitin Nabin belongs, while a substantial section of upper-caste Bhumihar voters has also backed the party in previous elections.
During the campaign, Kishor repeatedly alleged that the state administration attempted to influence the election. He accused Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Kartikey Kumar Sharma of misusing police machinery to intimidate voters and illegally detaining Jan Suraaj workers. He also claimed that police conducted raids on the homes of party supporters and said the matter had been formally brought to the notice of the Election Commission of India.
For Kishor, the contest carries significance beyond a single Assembly seat. After ending his career as one of India’s most sought-after political strategists, he launched the Jan Suraaj Party on October 2, 2024, following a two-year statewide padyatra across Bihar. The Bankipur bypoll is widely seen as the first major electoral test of his political project.
Party leaders say the campaign was run using a highly structured, professional model. Dedicated workers were assigned responsibility for clusters of four polling booths each, while Kishor personally reviewed campaign progress in nightly strategy meetings. The early counting trends suggest that the organisational approach may have helped the fledgling party make significant inroads into a constituency long dominated by the BJP.
With several rounds of counting still remaining, political observers caution that the final margin could change. Nevertheless, Kishor’s sustained lead has already made the Bankipur bypoll one of the biggest political stories to emerge from Bihar this year, posing the most serious challenge to the BJP’s dominance in the constituency in nearly three decades.
