Bihar: Prashant Kishor, BJP's Neeraj Sinha file nomination papers for Bankipur bypoll

Kishor, who seeks to wrest the BJP bastion vacated by its national president Nitin Nabin a couple of months ago, was accompanied by his wife.

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor and BJP's Neeraj Kumar Sinha on Monday filed their nomination papers for the bypoll to the Bankipur assembly seat in Bihar.

Kishor had been claiming that the bypoll would serve as a "referendum" on the NDA government in Bihar (File Photo/PTI)

Kishor, who seeks to wrest the BJP bastion vacated by its national president Nitin Nabin a couple of months ago, was accompanied by his wife, Jahnavi Das, a medical practitioner from Assam.

Das shuns the limelight but chose to be by the side of her husband, who is making his political debut.

Upon filing his nomination papers, Kishor told reporters, "This is not just my naamankan (nomination) but a call for a political change in Bihar where people with criminal records must give up their chair."

Notably, Kishor had been claiming that the bypoll would serve as a "referendum" on the NDA government in Bihar and his victory would compel Samrat Choudhary, the first BJP leader to head a government in the state, who had been named in a murder case in the 1990s, to step down.

The IPAC founder, who had floated his party about a couple of years ago, reached the collectorate in a huge procession that began at the crowded Dak Bungalow crossing, about a kilometre away.

Earlier, he had also addressed a well-attended meeting at a public ground close to the police lines.

On the other hand, BJP heavyweights like local MP Ravi Shankar Prasad and state president Sanjay Saraogi accompanied Sinha, a 32-year-old Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader, who was hurriedly roped in after Abhishek Kumar "Bunty" pulled himself out of the electoral contest.

Abhishek had filed nomination papers last week only to withdraw his candidature later, citing "family reasons".