Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor was leading by 1,145 votes after four rounds of counting for Bihar’s Bankipur assembly by-election necessitated by Nitin Nabin’s election as a Rajya Sabha member after his elevation as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief. Kishor made his electoral debut in the July 30 bypoll, months after his party failed to win any of the 238 seats it contested in the 2025 Bihar assembly polls.
Kishor canvassed across the constituency and framed the contest as a referendum on the government’s performance and targeted chief minister Samrat Choudhary. Nabin assured voters that Bankipur shall remain his top priority despite new responsibilities.
Kishor polled 6,269 votes after three rounds, BJP’s Neeraj Kumar Sinha 5,124, and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s Rekha Kumari 884. Kishor led by 862 votes after the first, 1161 after the second, and 1162 after the third round of counting. The lead declined marginally in the fourth round as Sinha polled 17 votes more than Kishor.
Officials said the counting is expected to be completed in 31 rounds across 14 counting tables, with the result likely to be declared later in the afternoon.
A dismal 34.30% voter turnout was recorded in the July 30 bypoll. Around 130,000 of the 3,79,616 electors voted. The turnout was nearly seven percentage points lower than the 41.35% in the 2025 assembly election.
The contest was effectively triangular among Sinha, Kishor and Kumari, even as 25 candidates were in the fray.
The byelection is a prestige battle and an organisational test for the BJP. Sinha, a former booth-level worker and district president, is seeking to retain a constituency that has been the BJP’s stronghold for over three decades. The party has held the seat since 1995. Nabin was first elected from the seat in the 2006 bypoll.
The 2026 bypoll was the first since Choudhary replaced Nitish Kumar after helming the state for nearly two decades and Nabin’s elevation as the BJP national president.
