GUWAHATI: Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor registered a major political victory on Monday, August 3 by winning the Bankipur Assembly by-election in Bihar, defeating BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by a margin of 18,953 votes.
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According to the official results, Kishor secured 63,203 votes, while Sinha polled 44,250 votes. RJD candidate Rekha Kumari finished third with 14,085 votes.
The victory marks Kishor's first electoral contest after years as one of India's most prominent political strategists and the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party.
Reacting to the result, Bihar BJP state president Sanjay Saraogi said the party accepted the people's verdict with humility.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party humbly accepts the mandate of the Bankipur by-election and respects the people's decision. In a democratic process, the verdict of the people is above everything," he said, adding that the BJP believes in introspection rather than questioning democratic institutions after an electoral defeat.
The by-election was necessitated after former Bankipur MLA and BJP national president Nitin Nabin resigned from the Assembly seat in April following his election to the Rajya Sabha.
Polling for the by-election was held on July 30, recording a voter turnout of 34.30%, lower than the 41.45% turnout recorded during the 2025 Assembly election.
The result is seen as a significant milestone for the Jan Suraaj Party and for Kishor, whose transition from election strategist to elected politician has been closely watched in Bihar's political landscape.