Prashant Kishor's party loses all 4 seats in poll debut
What's the story
The Jan Suraaj party, headed by political strategist Prashant Kishor, faced a major defeat in its maiden electoral battle. The party fielded candidates in four Assembly constituencies in Bihar but couldn't win any. The party's candidates included Jitendra Paswan (Imamganj), Mohammad Amajad (Belaganj), Sushil Kumar Singh (Ramgarh), and Kiran Singh (Tarari).
Election results
Jan Suraaj candidates defeated by large margins
The bypolls were viewed as a litmus test for Jan Suraaj ahead of the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. Despite Kishor's strategic acumen, the party's candidates lost by huge margins. In Belaganj, Amjad stood third with 17,285 votes while Janata Dal (United)'s Manorama Devi won with 73,334 votes. In Imamganj, Paswan also finished third with 37,103 votes. Hindustani Awam Morcha's Deepa Manjhi won the seat with 53,435 votes.
Ramgarh and Tarari results
Jan Suraaj's performance in Ramgarh and Tarari
In Ramgarh, Sushil Kumar Singh finished fourth with 6,513 votes; Bharatiya Janata Party's Ashok Kumar Singh won with 62,257 votes. Kiran Singh finished third in Tarari with 5,592 votes. BJP candidate Vishal Prashant won the seat with 78,564 votes. Kishor had announced his party on October 2 and planned to contest all 243 seats in the upcoming state elections.
Political transition
Kishor's journey from election strategist to party leader
Kishor served as an election strategist for several parties in the last decade. He rose to prominence as the chief strategist for Narendra Modi's 2014 Lok Sabha campaign with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2015, he was instrumental in the Bihar assembly election, backing Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and its allies against the BJP. Kishor also worked with the Congress during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election and later helped them win Punjab in 2021.