Patna, Aug 15: Buoyed by Prashant Kishore’s victory in the Bankipur Assembly by-election, the Jan Suraj Party is preparing for an expanded electoral push in Bihar, with plans to contest the upcoming Legislative Council elections and all Panchayat polls in the state.
Jan Suraj state president Manoj Bharti said the party would enter the Bihar Legislative Council elections, with a formal decision expected at the party’s executive meeting next month.
“Jan Suraj will contest the upcoming Bihar Legislative Council elections,” Bharti told party workers at a meeting in Patna.
Eight Legislative Council seats under the graduate and teacher constituencies are due for elections by November 2026. The seats include Patna Graduate, Patna Teacher, Darbhanga Graduate, Darbhanga Teacher, Tirhut Graduate, Tirhut Teacher, Kosi Graduate and Saran Teacher.
Jan Suraj’s entry could add another dimension to the electoral contest, with the party potentially taking on candidates backed by the NDA and the Grand Alliance, besides independent candidates.
The party has already demonstrated its influence in a Legislative Council election. In the 2023 Saran Teacher MLC by-election, Jan Suraj backed independent candidate Afaq Ahmed, who defeated CPI-backed Anand Pushkar. At the time, Jan Suraj had not formally become a political party and Kishore was undertaking his Bihar padayatra.
The party is now looking to build on that experience and strengthen its presence at the grassroots level.
“Jan Suraj will field candidates in all Bihar Panchayat elections,” Bharti said.
Prashant Kishore is also scheduled to undertake another tour of Bihar in September, during which he is expected to visit villages and towns across the state.
“Prashant Kishore will embark on another Bihar tour in September,” Bharti said.
The party plans to follow the tour with a statewide membership campaign beginning in October 2026. The three-month drive will seek to expand Jan Suraj’s organisational network, with party leaders reportedly being asked to enrol 25 new members each.
“A massive Jan Suraj membership drive will be launched across Bihar starting in October 2026,” Bharti said.
The party’s longer-term focus is also on the Bihar Panchayat elections scheduled for next year. Kishore has said the objective is to establish a Jan Suraj district council president in every district.
“Our next goal is to establish a Jan Suraj district council president in every district,” Kishore has said.
The fresh expansion plans follow Jan Suraj’s significant electoral breakthrough in the Bankipur Assembly by-election, where Kishore defeated BJP’s Neeraj Sinha by more than 19,000 votes.
The victory made Kishore the first MLA from Jan Suraj and was particularly significant as Bankipur has traditionally been considered a BJP stronghold.
The result has boosted the party’s confidence as it prepares to expand beyond the Assembly level and test its organisational strength in the Legislative Council and Panchayat elections.
With eight MLC seats due for polls later this year and Panchayat elections scheduled for next year, Jan Suraj’s planned electoral push could introduce a new political challenger into Bihar’s established NDA-Grand Alliance contest.
