Jan Suraaj chief Prashant Kishor.
Credit: PTI Photo
Patna: While all eyes will be on Jharkhand and Maharashtra Assembly election results, besides Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election and other bypolls in different States, what will be also keenly watched is how does Prashant Kishor, the former poll strategist-turned-politician, has fared in his debut election in his home State Bihar.
Bihar is slated to have the Assembly election in October 2025 and PK, as Prashant Kishor is fondly called, has announced that his party Jan Suraaj will contest on all the 243 seats in the State.
It is against this backdrop that all eyes will be on the former poll strategist who is testing the electoral water for the first time after he floated his political outfit Jan Suraaj on October 2, coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. Much against the anticipation, PK himself did not become the party president and instead appointed a former IFS officer Manoj Bharti as its chief.
Promising to give the electorate of Bihar a clean politics with leaders having clean record and proven efficiency, PK fielded his candidates on all the four seats – Ramgarh, Tarari, Belaganj and Imamganj – where bypolls were conducted.
While the JD (U) strongman and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar addressed four meetings for the bypolls and Lalu Prasad just one, PK addressed 125 meetings spread over four constituencies promising the voters that both Lalu and Nitish have ruled Bihar for over three decades and their time was up.
“I am giving you an alternative (in the form of Jan Suraaj) to all those who are tired of Lalu and Nitish rule in the last 34 years,” said PK in his every speech, urging the voters to help the new crop grow.
Though the Bihar bypoll is a straight contest between the NDA and the INDIA bloc in the State, there is an air of uncertainty with the fielding of Jan Suraaj candidates in all the four seats. No one can predict what will be the outcome nor can anyone say it with certainty whether PK’s Jan Suraaj damaged the NDA more or the INDIA. However, Saturday bypoll result will clear all.