Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor held a lead in the Bankipur Assembly by-election on Monday, ahead of BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by 6,646 votes after twelve rounds of counting in his first electoral bid. Kishor received 23,756 votes while Sinha secured 17,110 and RJD candidate Rekha Gupta placed third with 4,850. Vote counting started at 8 am under tight security at Patna’s AN College, with 31 rounds planned to decide the outcome among 26 candidates. The race draws attention as Kishor aims to take Bankipur from the BJP, which has controlled the seat since 1995 when it was called Patna West. The by-election followed BJP national president Nitin Nabin’s resignation after his April election to the Rajya Sabha. The BJP nominated youth leader Sinha, and the RJD again fielded Gupta, who lost to Nabin by over 50,000 votes in the 2025 Assembly polls. The July 30 bypoll saw 34.30 per cent turnout, a drop of more than 7 per cent from the prior 41.45 per cent. Before counting, Kishor accused Patna Police of trying to sway the result, claiming illegal detentions of campaign workers and voter intimidation. He said his party would raise the issues with the Election Commission and Supreme Court, showing a police notice about detaining outsiders and presenting some detained people to the media. Kishor expressed confidence that the BJP would suffer a large defeat.
