Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party Fails to Secure Any Seats in Bihar Election as BJP-Led Alliance Triumphs

Poll strategist and Jan Suraaj boss Prashant Kishor (File).

New Delhi:

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor's electoral debut faced significant setbacks last week as his Jan Suraaj Party suffered a complete defeat in the Bihar election. Despite contesting 238 of Bihar's 243 Assembly seats, Kishor's party failed to secure any victories, though it initially showed promise with early leads in four constituencies.

By the conclusion of vote counting, Jan Suraaj was completely eliminated from the political landscape, potentially ending Kishor's political ambitions. The party won zero seats, managed second place in only one constituency, finished fourth or worse in 122 seats, and received fewer votes than the NOTA (None Of The Above) option in 61 constituencies.

BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya highlighted this overwhelming defeat on social media, pointing out that 99 percent of Kishor's candidates (236 out of 238) lost their security deposits of Rs 10,000 each.

The security deposit requirement - Rs 10,000 for Assembly elections and Rs 25,000 for Lok Sabha elections - serves as a threshold to ensure only serious candidates participate. Candidates failing to secure at least one-sixth of the winning candidate's votes forfeit this deposit.

Malviya further emphasized Jan Suraaj's minimal electoral impact, noting the party captured merely 3.34 percent of the 16.77 lakh registered votes in Bihar.

This disappointing performance aligned with exit poll predictions, which had universally forecast Jan Suraaj's defeat. A compilation of exit polls had given Kishor's party at most one seat - a prediction that proved optimistic.

While some exit polls, particularly Peoples Pulse, had suggested Jan Suraaj might capture nearly 10 percent of votes - exceeding the Congress party's share - the actual results showed less than four percent support for Kishor's political venture.

Following the defeat, Jan Suraaj issued its first public statement accusing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's administration of misappropriating Rs 14,000 crore from World Bank funds for his campaign. The party's National President, Uday Singh, alleged these funds were utilized for voter incentives, claiming that between June and the election announcement, Nitish Kumar deployed Rs 40,000 crore to "purchase" votes.

Singh also claimed credit for certain policy changes, stating, "Please remember... it was not till the Jan Suraaj promised Rs 2,000 old age pension that the government raised the amount from Rs 700 to Rs 1,100 per month." He further suggested some Jan Suraaj supporters ultimately voted for the NDA coalition fearing the return of "jungle raj under RJD."

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance secured a decisive victory in the Bihar election, winning 202 of 243 seats. In contrast, the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance led by RJD and Congress suffered a devastating loss, securing only 35 seats - down from 110 in the 2020 election.

The RJD, which had won 75 seats in the previous election, managed only 25 this time - its second-worst performance in Bihar since 2010. The Congress representation dropped from 19 to just 6 seats.

Among the victorious coalition partners, the BJP increased its seat count by 15 to reach 89, while Nitish Kumar's JDU rebounded from 43 seats in 2020 to claim 85 seats in this election.

Nitish Kumar is scheduled to be sworn in as Chief Minister again on November 20.

The Bihar election, conducted in two phases on November 6 and November 11, recorded over 66 percent voter turnout - the highest participation in the state since 1951.