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Prashant Kishore's Jan Suraaj records no leads in in Bihar poll early trends
Kishor aims to disrupt the political landscape, challenging both the NDA and Mahagathbandhan with a focus on areas like Seemanchal and key constituencies.
Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor may not be in the Bihar Assembly polls fray, but has been dominating the election talk, with his Jan Suraaj party fielding candidates on all 234 seats. As per the early trends seen on PValue, Kishore's Jan Suraaj party was not seen leading in any constituency.
Kishor has left no stone unturned to make the Bihar polls a three-way contest among his party, the ruling NDA coalition and the Opposition Mahagathbandhan. He could also play kingmaker in Bihar, depending on how well his party fares.
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Once the man who led Nitish Kumar to a big Bihar win, Prashant Kishor is now among the Chief Minister's political adversaries. The Jan Suraaj founder has even predicted that Nitish Kumar won't return as Chief Minister and that the NDA is "definitely on its way out".
Kishor previously worked closely with Nitish Kumar — first as a poll strategist and later, briefly, as a party colleague. He was the key strategist behind the JD(U)-led coalition’s sweeping two-thirds victory in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, crafting a “Bihar pride” narrative that effectively countered the BJP’s campaign.
Also read: Bihar vote count begins: Nitish to stay on, or is it Tejashwi's time? Key points
No contest for Prashant Kishor
Ever since Prashant Kishor launched his party last year, it was expected that he would contest the Bihar polls, likely from Raghopur, INDIA bloc's chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav's home turf.
However, Kishor put all speculation to rest just weeks before the high-stakes poll, announcing he won't be contesting the elections. The politician attributed the move to a mutual decision taken by Jan Suraaj party members. "It was a decision we took in the larger interest of the party. If I were to contest, it would have distracted me from the necessary organisational work", Kishor had said in an interview by news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, Kishor's party fielded a local businessman, Chanchal Singh, from the Raghopur seat to challenge Tejashwi Yadav.
Prashant Kishor's relentless Bihar campaign
Despite not contesting the polls, Prashant Kishor has been relentless in his pursuit of making Jan Suraaj outperform its rivals in Bihar.
Throughout his roadshows in key constituencies like Sandesh, Arrah and Shahpur, Kishor urged voters to support Jan Suraaj as a "new option" for changing the state's governance system.
Jan Suraaj Party also has its eyes set on the Seemanchal region, which consists of assembly seats like Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia and Katihar, with the highest concentration of Muslim voters in Bihar. It remains to be seen how Prashant Kishor’s party performs in its maiden electoral contest.
