Prashant Kishor to finally contest an election himself? Jan Suraaj Party targets Bankipur, via an ashram

FOr a adult male who made a vocation come out of applied science other people's electoral victories, Prashant Kishor has been conspicuously remove from a poll result sheet, as a winner or loser. With a bypoll in Bihar set to take place anytime now, that may be about to change, though PK is keeping people guessing so far.The poll strategist who became the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) said on Saturday that his party has decided "in principle" to contest the upcoming bypoll to the Bankipur assembly seat in Patna, vacated by BJP's Nitin Nabin after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and elevated to the post of the party's national president in January.Pointedly asked whether he would be the candidate himself, Kishor offered a line he's used before: “It is a decision for the party to take.” This was the answer he gave ahead of the Bihar assembly elections in 2025, and he did not contest then. But the political context is now starkly different.Bankipur is a BJP fortress. Nabin, who first won the seat in a 2006 bypoll after his father's death, retained it for a fifth consecutive term last year, defeating RJD candidate Rekha Kumari by a margin of nearly 52,000 votes and securing 62.66% of the total vote share. The JSP had fielded Vandana Kumari, a 37-year-old debutant from the business community, who finished a distant third.‘Only need strong candidate’Kishor is nonetheless bullish on Bankipur, and claimed that only the Jan Suraaj Party can defeat the BJP there."Our party believes we just need to field a strong candidate," he told reporters in Patna on Saturday, “The RJD and the Congress have been losing the seat by massive margins.”He saw the bypoll as a test for the new BJP-JD(U) regime under Samrat Choudhary who recently replaced Nitish Kumar as CM.“[The bypol] will be held by the time the NDA would have completed seven to eight months in power. So, the bypoll would be a referendum on the first year of the government,” he said.In the 2025 elections in Bihar, the JSP contested 238 of 243 assembly seats and failed to win a single one. Its overall vote share was over 3%. In many segments, its candidates received fewer votes than NOTA, meaning None of the Above. Kishor had predicted the outcome in strictly binary terms, saying repeatedly that it would be either "arsh par ya farsh par", right at the top or flat on the floor.PK's big moves since big defeatIn the aftermath of a wipeout, the party, technically led by Uday Singh with PK as de facto supremo, dissolved all its organisational units from the panchayat level upwards.Kishor undertook a silent fast at the Bhitiharwa Ashram in West Champaran, set up by Mahatma Gandhi a century ago, and the same spot where he had launched his 3,500-km ‘padyatra’ or foor march three years earlier when he entered politics fulltime after a brief stint as JD(U) vice-president under Nitish's leadership.More recently, PK announced more prolonged retreat, and moved to an ashram on the outskirts of Patna, declaring it his primary base of operations until the JSP firmly establishes its presence ahead of the next Bihar assembly elections due in 2030.The move also raised questions about his rift with JSP national president Uday Singh, whose Patna residence Kishor vacated before shifting to the ashram. Uday Singh has since announced a “one-year break from active politics”.Prasjant Kishor has denied any falling-out, and told reporters, “Uday Singh is like a brother to me, besides being a senior party colleague. We respect his wish to take a break.” Uday Singh had earlier said the reason behind the BJP-led NDA's massive majority “is the distribution of money by the government”.Kishor, however, has made other moves that raise further questions on his future plans. A recent visit to Maharashtra deputy CM Sunetra Pawar in Mumbai — he was once a consultant to her late husband Ajit Pawar-led NCP — sparked speculation about a return to consultancy. Parth Pawar, Sunetra's son, clarified on social media that Kishor is “like a brother”, and the visit was a personal lunch with no political angles.Earlier during the asembly polls in late 2025, Kishor had said he had not contested the assembly polls himself because “the party felt I should concentrate on organisational work”.A bypoll in Bankipur must be held within six months of the seat falling vacant, as per the law. Nabin resigned at the end of March.