Patna, Aug 5: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor has called for a change in Bihar’s political leadership, saying the focus should be on appointing a capable and educated Chief Minister who can address key issues such as education, employment and migration.Speaking after his victory in the Bankipur Assembly by-election, Kishor said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was likely to remain in power as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a majority within the alliance.
However, he said a change in the leadership of the government remained possible.“The government is not changing, but there can be a change in its leadership,” Kishor said, adding that Jan Suraaj would continue to campaign for better leadership in the state.
Kishor said Bihar needed stronger action on improving education, creating employment opportunities and reducing the migration of young people and workers to other states.Commenting on the opposition, he said the effectiveness of Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav would depend on how actively he performed his responsibilities over the next four years.
Kishor described the Bankipur result as a political message from voters to the BJP and the NDA leadership. He argued that the outcome could not be explained by major changes in local conditions, claiming that the constituency’s roads and other issues had remained largely unchanged since the previous election.
According to Kishor, the key political development was the emergence of a new leadership in Bihar, which he claimed had not been accepted by a section of voters. His remarks reflect his interpretation of the by-election outcome.Kishor won the Bankipur Assembly by-election by a margin of 19,324 votes, according to the figures provided. He secured 64,151 votes, while BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar received 44,827 votes.
The victory is being viewed as a significant political achievement for the Jan Suraaj Party, particularly because Bankipur has been considered a strong constituency for the BJP.The party was established on October 2, 2024. In the 2025 Bihar Assembly election, Jan Suraaj fielded candidates in 238 constituencies but did not win a seat.
It nevertheless secured around 3.3 per cent of the statewide vote share and influenced the outcome of several closely contested seats.The Bankipur result marks the party’s first reported Assembly victory and may strengthen its political presence in Bihar ahead of future electoral contests.
