Patna: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor has won the Bankipur bypoll on Monday, August 3, in a major upset for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ending the party’s four-decade hold over the constituency.
Following the historic win, Kishor held a roadshow, with videos showing him surrounded by supporters, his white kurta smeared with festive colors.
Kishor, a celebrated poll strategist who made his electoral debut, had established a lead from the very first round over his BJP rival Neeraj Kumar Sinha. Kishor was ahead by 15,864 votes after 26 of 31 rounds of counting.
The counting of votes for the bypoll, necessitated after its president Nitin Nabin vacated the seat, began at 8 am here on Monday.
RJD’s Rekha Gupta, whom Nabin had defeated by a margin of about 50,000 votes last year, only to give it up a few months later upon election to the Rajya Sabha, was finishing a distant third.
“In a democracy, the will of the people is supreme. The verdict is a message to parties and leaders who arrogantly think of constituencies as fiefdoms,” Kishore had said before the results were announced.
BJP workers were a picture in contrast, as the exuberance on display in the morning, when hundreds of them turned up at city-based sweets shop, to pick up 200 kg of ‘laddoos’ they had ordered expecting a certain victory, gave way to shock and despondency.
