Bihar Debut That Wasn't: Prashant Kishor's JSP Fails to Cross 5K Votes in Seats

The Bihar Debut That Wasn’t: Why Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Tanked in Bihar

(Photo: The Quint)

(*Trends as of 3.30 pm)

Analyst-turned-politician Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party failed to make a mark in the Bihar Assembly elections, the results of which showed a clean sweep for the Janata Dal (United)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Contesting on the school-bag symbol, Kishor’s party had raised issues such as education, migration, and employment for the state’s youth.

In the early trends announced on Friday, Kishor’s party failed to secure a single seat out of the 243 it contested, and managed to garner a vote share of about 3.5%, according to reports.

The results also cast a shadow on Kishor’s pitch to steer the state away from ‘identity politics’.

“The people of Bihar so far have cast their votes in the name of caste or party affiliation. In this election, I appeal to you to vote only for leaders or parties that guarantee a bright future for your children,” he said, addressing a rally in Bhojpur.

Deposit Lost in Most Seats

In most seats, Jan Suraaj failed to garner over 5,000* votes. In several seats, the party has barely been able to get over 10,000* votes.

Even in some highly anticipated seats like Chanpatia, where celebrity YouTuber Manish Kahyap was up aginst Umakant Singh of the BJP and Abhishek Ranjan of the Congress, the party has barely secured over 20,000* votes.

In Kochadaman, Abu Afaan Farooq was another high profile candidate, but barely managed to get 2,000* votes.

Prominent Bhojpuri singer Ritesh Pandey, contesting from Kargahaar, failed to get 10,000* votes.

Kishor's Promises Fail to Resonate

Kishor’s party sought to maintain momentum by focusing on key issues concerning the state’s electorate.

With its ‘governance-first reset’ theme, the party’s manifesto highlighted promises such as education reforms, job creation, rural development, revisiting the state’s liquor policy, overhauling government schools, stemming migration through local employment, and economic empowerment of women and farmers, along with expanding pensions for senior citizens.

One of its most debated proposals was the rollback of the liquor ban, with the party arguing that the revenue generated could be channelled into education and job creation.

However, these people-oriented promises failed to make a mark with voters.

Key Reasons Behind Jan Suraaj's Loss

• Jan Suraaj’s massive padyatra, publicity campaigns, and social media traction did not translate into booth-level strength. Despite Prashant Kishor being a “crowd-puller” at his rallies, the enthusiasm failed to convert into votes.

• Kishor fielded candidates on the agenda of promoting a party that does not subscribe to ‘identity politics’ or ‘caste politics’. While many candidates were doctors and academics, most had little to no political grounding or organisational presence to pull votes at the local level.

• The pitch to reverse the liquor ban did not resonate with women voters — a constituency that significantly contributes to Nitish Kumar’s popularity.

• The momentum in favour of Nitish Kumar, combined with the BJP’s grassroots-level connect with voters, reinforced the perception that Jan Suraaj was ‘too new to rule’ a state as complex as Bihar.

• A strong NDA wave and Nitish Kumar’s enduring credibility among key sections of voters further squeezed Jan Suraaj’s electoral space, leaving little room for a newcomer.

• Although Jan Suraaj did spark conversations that resonated with some voters, its narratives remained far more popular on social media than on the ground.