After 3 years of entering politics, Prashant Kishore is going to enter the electoral battle. PK will be the candidate from Jansuraj Party in the by-election of Bankipur Assembly. This seat has become vacant due to the election of BJP national president Nitin Nabin to Rajya Sabha. Bankipur Is considered the stronghold of BJP. Bankipur seat (Patna West till 2008) has been held by BJP since 1995. In the 2025 elections, BJP’s Nitin Naveen got 62.66 percent votes on this seat.
In such a situation, three questions are being asked regarding PK contesting elections from a tough seat like Bankipur. First, why is Prashant Kishor, who is not contesting the assembly elections, contesting the by-election in Bankipur? After all, what kind of compulsion has come? The second question is about victory. Will PK be able to conquer this strong fort of BJP? And if yes then how?
The third most important question is why the Bankipur battle is more important for Samrat Chaudhary than Nitin Nabin in BJP? We know the answers to these three questions in this story…
Bankipur seat and its caste equation
Bankipur assembly seat is located in the western area of Patna. Earlier the name of this seat was Patna West. Its name was changed in the delimitation of 2008. Areas like Gandhi Maidan, Ashok Rajpath, Saidpur of Patna are under this assembly seat. According to the Election Commission, there are 3.80 lakh voters in the assembly.
If seen from the caste equation, the maximum number of Kayastha voters in this assembly is around 70 thousand. After this, the population of Vaishya-Banias here is around 60 thousand. After Kayastha in the upper caste community, the number of Rajputs here is the highest at 30 thousand. Similarly, Brahmins and Bhumihars are around 45 thousand on this seat.
There are around 31 thousand Dalit voters in this seat. The number of Muslims is 30 thousand. Yadavs are also 30 thousand. Similarly, the number of Koeri-Kurmi is also around 30 thousand. The number of small group voters here is 54 thousand.
Why did Prashant Kishore contest the elections?
Prashant Kishore himself did not contest the 2025 assembly elections. He campaigned for Jansuraj in all the seats of Bihar. Despite this PK could not get success. PK’s party did not win even a single seat in the assembly elections. Not only this, 236 candidates of the party could not even save their deposits.
Jansuraj Party could get only 3.34 percent votes in the elections. This was also a shock for Prashant Kishore because 5 parties in Bihar had got more votes than Prashant Kishore’s party. These include the names of BJP, Congress, JDU, RJD and LJP (R).
After this, Prashant Kishore reviewed the defeat with the party leaders. He considered his decision of not contesting the elections as a big mistake. According to party sources, PK was looking for by-elections since then.
Is Bankipur seat suitable for Prashant Kishore?
Conquering Bankipur is not easy for Prashant Kishore. PK had made Vandana Kumari its candidate in the 2025 elections. Vandana got 7,717 votes on this seat. Whereas the winning candidate Nitin Nabin got 98 thousand votes. The difference in votes between the two was quite wide. It is not easy for Prashant Kishore to bridge the gap of 90 thousand in the by-election.
RJD candidate Rekha Kumari got 46,363 votes in 2025. Rekha was at second position. This time too RJD will contest from here with an alliance. BJP has a strong caste equation on this seat. For example, along with Kayasthas, BJP has been getting lopsided votes from Vaishya-Baniya, Rajput, Bhumihar, Brahmin, Koeri-Kurmi and Dalit voters.
Despite all this, for 3 reasons, Prashant Kishore expects a big game against BJP in Bankipur.
1. In Bihar, upper caste and Vaishya are considered the core voters of BJP. The same core voters are in Bankipur also, but this year when BJP got the post of Chief Minister, the party nominated Samrat Kushwaha of Koeri community as the Chief Minister. After this, there is talk of resentment among the core voters of BJP. Prashant is fueling this resentment. Bankipur elections are being linked to the emperor’s litmus test. Prashant hopes that the core voters of BJP angry against Samrat will vote for him.
2. Bankipur is an upper caste dominated seat. Recently, there is anger among the upper caste community due to Bharat Tiwari encounter in Bhojpur. PK wants to cash in on this anger through Bankipur. If the upper caste community of Bankipur mobilizes in favor of PK, then there can be a game with BJP on this seat.
3. The issue of development also dominates a lot in Bankipur. Water shortage, smelly drains and road jams are major issues in most areas of Bankipur. PK wants to capitalize on this strongly in the elections.
Bankipur is more important for the emperor than Nitin Nabin
Bankipur seat may be associated with Nitin Nabin, but the by-election being held here is no less than a litmus test for Samrat Chaudhary. This is the first election being held in Bihar after Samrat Chaudhary became the Chief Minister. That too in BJP’s stronghold. Saving this seat is important for the emperor in three ways.
1. To put an end to the rumors that BJP’s core voters are angry with Samrat. After victory, this kind of discussion will stop in the party.
2. Let us tell you that Koeri have also joined the core voters of BJP. BJP has put forward Samrat Choudhary only to connect the Koeri.
3. By winning, giving the message that BJP is capable of winning seats even in tough fights under him.
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