Bihar politics is buzzing again after the Jan Suraaj party named its founder Prashant Kishor as its candidate for the Bankipur assembly by-election in Patna. The by-election in Bankipur is scheduled for July 30, and all eyes are now on this one seat.
Why Bankipur needs a by-election
The by-election in Bankipur became necessary after BJP president Nitin Nabin vacated the seat to move to the Rajya Sabha. Once the seat fell vacant, a by-election was always on the cards. Jan Suraaj state president Manoj Bharti had earlier said that only a few days were left before the by-election and that the party would field a strong candidate in the contest. He had said the final call on the candidate would be taken on July 5. Bharti also said that for a month, party workers had been speaking to voters across Bankipur, and the response gathered so far suggested that people across the constituency were unhappy with the BJP government.
Prashant Kishor to contest an election for the first time
Prashant Kishor contesting from Bankipur is significant because, during the recent Bihar assembly election, two seats had been picked out for him to contest, but he backed out at the last moment and chose to focus only on campaigning for the party. The Bankipur by-election will mark the first assembly election of Prashant Kishor's political career. Before this, he had travelled across Bihar to help build and establish the Jan Suraaj party, without ever standing for election himself. Whether the voters of Bankipur choose him as their MLA will only become clear once the by-election results are out.
A real test in a BJP stronghold
Bankipur has long been considered a stronghold of the BJP, which has won the seat five times in a row. That is precisely why the outcome of this by-election is expected to be closely watched. If the BJP wins again, it will have successfully defended its bastion, but if Prashant Kishor of Jan Suraaj wins, it would be a historic moment for him and his party. Jan Suraaj had failed to win even a single seat in the recent Bihar assembly election, so a win for Prashant Kishor here would give the party its first ever seat in the assembly.
