Prashant Kishor won't be contesting Bihar elections, predicts defeat for NDA
PTC Web Desk: Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has confirmed that he will not contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, ending weeks of speculation. Kishor, who leads the Jan Suraaj Party, said he would instead focus on organisational work to strengthen the new political outfit ahead of its electoral debut.
Kishor said, “Jan Suraaj has decided that I should concentrate on building the organisation and not contest the elections.” He also set an ambitious target for his party, stating that “anything less than 150 seats would be a defeat” for Jan Suraaj.
The confirmation came after the party announced Chanchal Singh as its candidate for the Raghopur Assembly seat, a constituency represented by Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD. Earlier, Kishor had indicated that if he decided to contest, he would do so from either Kargahar, his home constituency, or Raghopur, a traditional RJD stronghold. However, Jan Suraaj’s first candidate list named Ritesh Ranjan (Pandey) from Kargahar, making it clear that Kishor would stay out of the electoral race.
Party sources said fielding Kishor in the polls would have limited his reach during campaigning, as he remained the chief campaigner and face of Jan Suraaj. Instead, he would oversee state-wide mobilisation and voter outreach.
Predicting a tough fight for the ruling NDA, Kishor said the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) might find it difficult to win even 25 seats this time. “The NDA is definitely on its way out, and Nitish Kumar will not return as Chief Minister,” he claimed.
Referring to past elections, Kishor recalled how Chirag Paswan’s revolt in the last Assembly polls had reduced JD(U)’s tally to 43 seats. He also took a dig at the INDIA bloc, saying that the alliance is plagued by internal rifts between RJD and Congress, and uncertainty over the Vikassheel Insaan Party’s support.
Polling for the 243-member Bihar Assembly will be held on November 6 and 11, and results will be declared on November 14.
- With inputs from agencies
