Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Fails In Debut Election In Bihar, 3 Of 4 Candidates Lose Deposits

Prashant Kishor highlighted the fact that his fledgling Jan Suraaj won 10 per cent of the total votes polled in four seats, while rubbishing the claim that it had played a role in the RJD's defeat.

In the byelection to four assembly seats in Bihar, the ruling NDA swept the bypolls retaining control on all the seats in the state a year ahead of the elections next year.

Candidates of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj, which made a debut in Bihar in the bypolls, failed to make an impact in the state despite the fanfare amid its launch in October.

The candidates of Kishor's party lost deposits in three out of four seats despite the claims of taking the political landscape in the state by storm.

In Tarari, Jan Suraaj candidate Kiran Singh managed to get only 5,622 votes, while BJP candidate Vishal Prashant won the seat with 78,755 votes. 

In Ramgarh, party candidate Sushil Kumar Singh came fourth with 6,513 votes while the BJP candidates won with 62,257 votes.

In Imamganj, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) candidate Deepa Kumari won the seat with 53,435 votes, while Jan Suraaj's Jitendra Paswan got 37,103 votes. 

Meanwhile, in Belaganj, Janata Dal (United) candidate Manorama Devi won the seat with 73,334 votes. Jan Suraaj Party's candidate Mohammad Amajad came third with 17,285 votes. The INDIA bloc got its biggest setback in Belaganj, a seat the party had been winning since its inception in the 1990s.

RJD candidate Vishwanath Kumar Singh lost to the JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the arch-rival of its founding president Lalu Prasad. The JD(U) candidate Manorama Devi, a former MLC, defeated by a margin of more than 21,000 votes RJD’s Vishwanath Kumar Singh who made his debut from a seat that fell vacant upon election to Lok Sabha of his father Surendra Prasad Yadav, a multiple term MLA.

Reacting to the bypoll result, Prashant Kishor highlighted the fact that his fledgling Jan Suraaj won 10 per cent of the total votes polled in four seats, while rubbishing the claim that it had played a role in the RJD's defeat in three of these.

"RJD is a 30-year-old party. The son of its state president finished third. Can Jan Suraaj be faulted for that? In Belaganj all Muslim votes went to the JD(U) candidate. In Imamganj, the Jan Suraaj cut into NDA votes. Else, the victory margin of (Union minister) Jitan Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha would have been bigger," he said.

He dubbed the NDA's win as a matter of concern despite the BJP-led coalition failing to end the state's chronic backwardness during it's decades-long rule. He also maintained that the Jan Suraaj will go solo in the assembly polls due next year when it will contest all 243 seats.