Prashant Kishor Takes Early Lead in Bihar Bypoll Debut

Counting of votes began Monday in by-elections across three states, producing a split verdict that saw the Bharatiya Janata Party hold its ground in Gujarat while the Congress appeared set to retain a seat in Madhya Pradesh, and political strategist Prashant Kishor surged to a commanding lead on his electoral debut in Bihar’s Bankipur constituency (Indian Express).

In Bankipur, Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party capitalised on the strategist’s personal candidacy to race ahead of the BJP’s Neeraj Kumar Sinha, a relatively lightweight nominee fielded in a seat vacated by five-term incumbent and BJP national president Nitin Nabin (Indian Express). The contrast with the November 2025 assembly polls was stark: Jan Suraaj had contested 238 of Bihar’s 243 seats without winning a single one, and Kishor himself had stayed out of the fray. This time, his decision to stand personally appeared to consolidate support that had previously dissipated across the party’s sprawling but unsuccessful slate (Indian Express). Celebrations erupted at the Jan Suraaj office in Patna as trends firmed, with party workers raising slogans and a leader describing the moment as the beginning of a “new golden era” (Indian Express).

In Gujarat’s Manjalpur, the BJP maintained its grip on the Vadodara seat. Satish Patel defeated Congress candidate Bhikhabhai Rabari by a margin exceeding 30,000 votes, securing 49,631 votes to Rabari’s 22,183, according to the Election Commission of India (Indian Express). The result preserved the status quo in a constituency the party has held for years, with Patel’s lead holding steady above 27,000 votes through the counting rounds (Indian Express).

Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia, the Congress looked poised to retain the seat through Ghanshyam Singh. State party chief Jitendra Patwari framed the lead as a rebuke of the incumbent government, thanking voters for “exposing the real face of Madhya Pradesh government, arrogance, corruption” and saying they had “laid the foundation of change” (Indian Express).

The three contests, triggered by vacancies in each assembly, offered the first electoral test since the 2025 state polls for Kishor’s transition from backroom strategist to frontline candidate, while also gauging the durability of the BJP’s organisational machine in Gujarat and the Congress’s ability to hold ground in central India. Final declarations from the Election Commission were awaited in Bankipur and Datia as counting concluded.