3 min readUpdated: Aug 3, 2026 06:48 PM IST
Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Monday said his party’s emphatic victory in the Bankipur Assembly bypoll was a message from the people of Bihar to the BJP’s central leadership to appoint a “good” Chief Minister for the state. Contesting his first election, Kishor secured a lead of over 19,000 votes after 32 rounds of counting and polled more than 64,000 votes. The bypoll was necessitated after BJP leader Nitin Nabin vacated the seat following his election to the Rajya Sabha.
Calling the outcome “a victory of the people of Bankipur”, Kishor said the bypoll was about more than electing an MLA. “This was an attempt by the people of Bihar to send a message to the BJP’s central leadership that they should appoint a good person as the Chief Minister of Bihar,” he said.
He said the people did not want “a person with a criminal background or questionable conduct, character or reputation” leading the state. Instead, Bihar needed a leader who could improve education, create jobs for the youth and ensure that people did not have to migrate elsewhere in search of employment.
Kishor also urged the BJP leadership to prioritise Bihar’s development ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. “Prime Minister Modi, the BJP and Amit Shah should focus on improving Bihar, creating jobs for its youth and stopping migration. That is our only objective,” he said, adding that Jan Suraaj was not in politics “merely to become MLAs and award contracts”, but to push for the state’s development.
Jan Suraaj workers celebrated the victory, with the party describing it as a turning point after drawing a blank in last year’s Bihar Assembly elections. “This is the beginning of a golden age for our party,” state president Manoj Bharti said, adding that the verdict showed that “the will of the people is supreme” and served as a message to parties that treat constituencies as their “fiefdoms”.
Visuals of Kishor leading a huge public roadshow in Patna after the win saw hundreds of engagements on social media.
आभार बांकीपुर🙏 pic.twitter.com/oHJyGTZCnz
— Jan Suraaj (@jansuraajonline) August 3, 2026
Meanwhile, the Congress won the Datia Assembly seat, defeating the BJP by a margin of over 6,000 votes. Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh secured more than 66,000 votes to beat BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari. The BJP, however, retained the Manjalpur Assembly seat in Gujarat’s Vadodara district, where its candidate Satish Patel defeated Congress nominee Bhikhabhai Rabari.
(With inputs from PTI)