Prashant Kishor Admits Regret Over Not Contesting in Bihar Elections as Jan Suraaj Party Fails to Secure Seats

Jan Suraaj party leader Prashant Kishor recently acknowledged his regret about not participating as a candidate in the Bihar assembly elections, where his newly formed party failed to secure any seats in its electoral debut.

During an interview with NDTV's Rahul Kanwal, when asked if he regretted not contesting personally, Kishor admitted, "You can consider that a mistake."

The former election strategist explained his decision-making process, stating, "If I knew that I would lose, why would I put my resources, money and credibility at stake? I would have easily used all these resources to become an MP or MLA. If I knew that the Jan Suraaj would lose, why would I take such a big risk? I never knew that the party would get 4% of the vote. I never did my own survey, I played it blind."

Kishor revealed that his party had anticipated securing 12% to 15% of votes while contesting 238 out of 243 assembly seats. "But if it came to 3.5%, we need to analyze," he admitted, acknowledging the significant gap between expectation and reality.

Exit polls had correctly predicted poor performance for Jan Suraaj in its first electoral contest.

Despite his impressive record as an election strategist who had previously orchestrated multiple significant electoral victories, Kishor had chosen not to run as a candidate to focus on building his party's organizational foundation.

"No, I won't contest. The party has decided. I will continue to do the work I have been doing in the party. I will continue with the organisational work for the larger interest of the party," he had previously told PTI.

The Bihar assembly elections, conducted in two phases on November 6 and 11, resulted in a decisive victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which secured 202 seats. Within the alliance, the BJP won 89 seats, JD(U) claimed 85, LJP(RV) took 19, HAM(S) won five, and RLM secured four seats.

In contrast, the opposition Mahagathbandhan coalition managed only 35 seats total. The RJD secured 25 seats (their second-worst performance since 2010), Congress won six seats (down from 19), CPI(ML)L got two seats, CPI(M) one seat, while CPI failed to win any constituencies.

Following the electoral setback, Kishor accepted full responsibility for his party's disappointing performance, saying they made genuine efforts to raise awareness about important issues but failed to connect with voters effectively.

He remarked, "Yes, I failed to understand Bihar, unlike Nitish Kumar, BJP leader Samrat Choudhary and others who divided people on caste and religious lines and bought votes of people using money... To not get votes is not a crime... at least I have not indulged in corruption or divisive politics."

The elections also saw Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM winning five seats, while Mukesh Sahani's Vikassheel Insaan Party failed to secure any representation in the assembly.