Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor waves at party workers during a victory march as he takes the lead in the Bankipur assembly bypoll result, in Patna on Monday. (ANI Photo)

| Photo Credit:

Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor scripted the most dramatic result of Monday’s Assembly by-elections, wresting the BJP’s three-decade-old Bankipur stronghold in Bihar to hand his Jan Suraj Party its first major electoral breakthrough. The bypolls otherwise produced a mixed verdict, with the Congress retaining the Datia seat in Madhya Pradesh and the BJP holding on to Manjalpur in Gujarat.Kishor won Bankipur by 19324 votes. In Madhya Pradesh, Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh won the Datia Assembly seat by 6016 votes. In Gujarat, the BJP retained the Manjalpur constituency, with Satish Patel defeating the Congress candidate by a margin of more than 30,000 votes.Claiming that his victory had broken one of the BJP’s strongest bastions, a seat vacated by the BJP President Nitin Nabin when was elected to the Rajya Sabha, Kishor said after the result, “A 30-year-old stronghold has fallen in 30 days,” in a swipe at the ruling party.safest urban seatsThe BJP had held the constituency continuously since 1995, making Bankipur one of its safest urban seats in Bihar.Kishor’s victory, therefore, carries significance beyond the arithmetic of a by-election and is expected to reshape political calculations ahead of the next electoral battles in the State. Kishor, who has relentlessly targeted the BJP, more specifically the Chief Minister Samrat Chowdhary, made it clear that he will carry on his campaign.“The whole world know about the ‘chaal, charitra, chehera’ (character) of Samarat Chowdhary. If you are going to make a person with a criminal bent of mind the CM, Bihar cannot progress,” he said after winning the bypoll.Kishor’s victory marks the biggest political success of his career and a dramatic turnaround after Jan Suraj failed to make an electoral impact in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. Monday’s result is likely to revive the party’s fortunes and strengthen its claim to being an alternative to both the NDA and the RJD-led Opposition.Known across the political spectrum simply as “PK”, Kishor first rose to prominence as the architect of Narendra Modi’s successful 2014 Lok Sabha campaign before going on to advise a string of regional and national leaders, including the BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, YSR Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.Published on August 3, 2026