Prashant Kishor wins Bankipur bypoll; BJP wins Manjalpur, Congress Datia
What's the story
Prashant Kishor, the Jan Suraaj chief, has won the Bankipur bypoll by a margin of over 18,000 votes against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha and Rashtriya Janata Dal's Rekha Kumari. The bypoll was necessitated after BJP national president Nitin Nabin vacated the seat following his election to the Rajya Sabha this year. The seat had been a BJP bastion since 1995.
Kishor
Kishor's message to BJP
Speaking to the media, Kishor has said his party will do everything to improve Bankipur.
"You will begin to see those changes over the next two to three months....My becoming an MLA will not transform Bankipur into Bengaluru overnight. But you will certainly see improvements," he said.
He said the result sends a message to the BJP top brass: "Bihar people don't want a CM with criminal background."
Debut
Seat with BJP since 1995
The victory is also the first for his JSP, which didn't win any seats in the 2025 election.
The seat, with significant commercial hubs, residential areas, and diverse demographic pockets, has traditionally witnessed consolidated upper-caste vote blocs and strong middle-class voter turnout to deliver decisive mandates for the BJP.
It had been with the BJP since 1995 when Nabin's father, Kishore Prasad Sinha, won it. In 2006, after his demise, Nabin retained the seat. He won it again last year.
Gujarat
BJP wins in Gujarat, Congress in MP
In Gujarat, the BJP has retained the Manjalpur Assembly constituency after its candidate Satish Govindbhai Patel won the bypoll, defeating Congress candidate Bhikhabhai Rabari by a margin of more than 30,000 votes.
In Madhya Pradesh, Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh won the Datia bypoll by 66,726 votes against BJP's Ashutosh Tiwari after 15 rounds of counting.