The Jan Suraaj Party contested 238 of the 243 seats in Bihar. It won none. And it polled just 2-3% of the popular vote (according to theparty’s preliminary estimates. Election Commission data is yet to come). Effectively, it wasn’t a winner, loser, even spoiler (as some optimistic analysts expected it to be) -- but a literal non-player. It did do better than None of The Above (NOTA), though, which polled 1.8% of the votes.
Bihar state JSP president Manoj Bharti admitted that the results were shocking not as much in terms of seats as in terms of the vote percentage.
“We came to usher in change in Bihar, but we could not convince them the way it was required. The ruling dispensation also gave so many sops and used Jeevika Didis as poll agents to convince women that our efforts failed to achieve the desired impact,” he added.
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The non-performance of a party that perhaps got more attention from the mainstream media than it ought to have may well mark the end of the PK-myth. In 2013, Prashant Kishor emerged from nowhere to play a big role in Narendra Modi’s successful campaign. Since then, he and his firm have worked with parties around the country, with the Congress reportedly trying to woo him by offering him a senior organisational post. His organisation took credit for several victories:For the BJP in 2011 in Gujarat and 2014 in the Lok Sabha polls, JD-U in 2015 Bihar polls, in 2017 UP and Punjab elections for the Congress, in 2019 for YSR Congress in Andhra Palradesh, in 2020 for AAP in Delhi, in 2021 for TMC in West Bengal and in 2021 for DMK in Tamil Nadu.
Then, he left his organisation and jumped into electoral politics. The script was perfect: a son of the soil works wonders for politicians and political parties, before returning home, winning a popular election, and propelling Bihar into the 21st century. The first signs that all was not what it was made out to be came when PK chose not to contest, attributing the decision to his party.
{{/usCountry}}Then, he left his organisation and jumped into electoral politics. The script was perfect: a son of the soil works wonders for politicians and political parties, before returning home, winning a popular election, and propelling Bihar into the 21st century. The first signs that all was not what it was made out to be came when PK chose not to contest, attributing the decision to his party.
{{/usCountry}}One explanation for the Jan Suraaj’s performance could be its inability to build the kind of caste coalition required to succeed in Bihar.
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“Bihar is a complex state and it is not easy for any new entrant to make inroads straightaway due to cadre for bigger parties. But he has time by his side and if he wants to continue in politics, he should use it as a learning experience. Five years from now Bihar’s political landscape may be different, offering opportunities to new players,” said social analyst Prof NK Choudhary.
A second could be that not enough people bought into the party’s aspirational promise of jobs and development -- especially in a context where these were drowned by the very real cash handouts the incumbent government was making through welfare schemes.
“The Nitish government hiked pension, gave ₹10000 to women under Rozgar Yojana and gave a lot of jobs in the last one year to virtually snatch the agenda of opposition parties, including JSP, and that turned the tide. Many people did not vote for the JSP, fearing that it could benefit the RJD,” said social analyst Prof Vijay Kumar.
And a third could be that PK, despite a year-long padyatra he undertook around the state, compared poorly with the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and the JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar; the first enjoyed strong backing from the dominant Yadav community; the second had built a franchise among women and extreme backward classes. In contrast to the two, PK was seen as a non resident Bihari who was quick to point out everything that was wrong with his state.
To be sure, no one expected Jan Suraaj to do what the Telugu Desam Party did in its first election in 1984; but nor did anyone expect it to fail spectacularly. With no cadre to speak of, and no legislative presence, it will be an uphill task for PK to stay the course and make another attempt in 2030.
JSP leader Bharti said that the party would sit with Kishor to analyse why it failed to convince people the importance of the issues we raised for their welfare.
“As Kishor also often said that JSP’s endeavour was for systemic change, not just to gain power, we would analyse why got so little public support and may be start afresh from the grassroots level to strengthen organisation, starting from panchayats. We may have got just 2-3% votes, but the real statistics will come from the EC. We will also correct the mistakes we may have committed along the way and which will surface during analysis,” he added.
Across the state, the Jan Suraaj polled 3.3% votes; none of its 238 candidates won; and its candidates came second in just one constituency, third in 115, and below third in 122.