Benefit NDA or Opposition? How Prashant Kishor Swayed Results in 35 Bihar Seats

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party may not have won any seat in Bihar, but it did manage to impact results in some.

Bihar Election 2025: Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party contested 238 seats and secured 3.34% of the total votes.

(Photo- The Quint)

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) failed to win a single seat in the Bihar Assembly election. However, the party still played a role in shaping the outcome in several constituencies, finishing third in many places and narrowing the victory margins for both the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan.

After drawing significant media and social media attention through a high-profile padyatra across Bihar, Kishor formally launched the Jan Suraaj Party on Gandhi Jayanti in 2024.

Less than a year later, the party contested 238 of the state’s 243 seats, but failed to win any. The party, however, impacted electipon results in several seats for both the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan.

We take a closer look:

Jan Suraaj Landed the Second Spot in Just One Seat

In the Bihar Assembly election, the Jan Suraaj Party received 12,378 votes through postal ballots and 16,65,205 votes through EVMs. Combined, Prashant Kishor’s party secured a total of 16,77,583 votes.

In terms of vote share, Jan Suraaj received 3.34% of the total votes polled.

On the Marhaura seat in Saran district, Jan Suraaj finished in second place. RJD’s Jitendra Kumar Rai secured 86,811 votes, while JSP’s Naveen Kumar Singh alias Abhay Singh, who stood second, received 58,190 votes. The victory margin here was 27,928 votes. Notably, the NDA was out of the contest early because its candidate’s nomination was rejected.

Jan Suraaj finished third on 115 seats. Out of these 115 seats, the NDA won 102, and on 101 of these 102 seats, the Mahagathbandhan finished second.

Jan Suraaj influenced the outcome in 35 constituencies, where the party’s vote tally was higher than the eventual victory margins.

Dent to Mahagathbandhan on 18 Seats?

Of the 35 seats mentioned earlier, there are 18 Assembly constituencies where the Mahagathbandhan finished second — and in all of them, the victory margins were smaller than the number of votes polled by Jan Suraaj candidates.

For instance:

Sandesh – JD(U)’s Radha Charan Sah defeated RJD’s Deepu Singh by just 27 votes. Sah secured 80,598 votes, while Singh received 80,571. Jan Suraaj candidate Rajiv Ranj Raj finished third with 6,040 votes.

Agiaon – In a close contest between the BJP and CPI(ML), the BJP’s Mahesh Paswan won by 95 votes. CPI(ML)’s Shiv Prakash Ranjan came second, while Jan Suraaj’s Ramesh Kumar polled 3,882 votes.

Bakhtiarpur – LJP(R) candidate Arun Kumar won by 981 votes, with RJD’s Anirudh Kumar in second place. Jan Suraaj’s Valmiki Singh finished third with 6,581 votes.

Narkatia – JD(U) retained the seat with a winning margin of 1,443 votes. Jan Suraaj’s Lal Babu Prasad stood third with 7,002 votes.

Amnour – The BJP defeated the RJD here by 3,808 votes, while Jan Suraaj polled 6,031 votes.

Among these 18 seats, JD(U) won 10, the BJP won 5, LJP(R) took 2, and RLM secured 1.

In Balrampur in Katihar district, Jan Suraaj finished seventh. LJP(R) won the seat, while AIMIM and CPI(ML) were second and third respectively.

List of 18 seats where the Grand Alliance stood second.

The Quint

Jan Suraaj Hurt the NDA on 15 Seats

Of the 35 seats mentioned earlier, there were 15 constituencies where the NDA finished second, and the victory margin was smaller than the number of votes secured by Jan Suraaj candidates.

In one seat, AIMIM won by defeating the JD(U) candidate, while on another, Jan Suraaj itself finished second.

Examples include:

Dhaka: RJD’s Faisal Rahman defeated BJP’s Pawan Kumar Jaiswal by 178 votes. Jan Suraaj’s Dr L.V. Prasad came third with 8,347 votes.

Chanpatia: YouTuber-turned-politician Manish Kashyap contested on a Jan Suraaj ticket and finished third with 37,172 votes. Congress candidate Abhishek Ranjan edged out BJP’s Umakant Singh by 602 votes.

Jehanabad: RJD’s Rahul Kumar defeated JD(U)’s Chandreshwar Prasad by 793 votes. Jan Suraaj’s Abhiram Singh came third, polling 5,760 votes.

List of 15 seats where the NDA finished second and Jan Suraaj received more votes than the NDA’s margin of defeat.

The Quint

Got Fewer Votes Than the Total Number of Members

In the run-up to the elections, Prashant Kishor repeatedly projected confidence about his party’s prospects. His tours and rallies attracted large crowds. However, the results suggest the party was unable to translate that turnout into votes.

Notably, the party polled fewer votes than its claimed membership. According to Jan Suraaj’s official website, the organisation has one crore members. Yet, the party secured only 16.77 lakh votes in the Assembly election — indicating that even a substantial portion of its registered members did not vote for it.

Jansuraaj got less votes than the total number of members.

Screenshot

Following the party’s crushing defeat in the elections, Prashant Kishor addressed a press conference on Tuesday and took responsibility for the loss. “Jan Suraaj will win. We have certainly suffered a setback today. Whatever shortcomings we have, we will fix them — and we will rise again with the same strength,” he said.

He also rejected speculation that he would leave the state. “Some people think I will leave Bihar. That is a misconception. Nothing in life can match the determination that my colleagues in Jan Suraaj and I have to improve Bihar. We will not step back from this resolve. We will work with full honesty and strength. The question of retreat does not arise.”