PATNA: Campaigning for the Bankipur Assembly bypoll in Bihar ended on Tuesday after a fiercely contested campaign.It witnessed Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor make an aggressive bid to breach a BJP stronghold vacated by the party’s national president, Nitin Nabin, who led an intensive campaign for the BJP nominee.Although the bypoll is largely being viewed as a BJP-versus-Prashant Kishor contest, a total of 25 candidates are in the fray, news agency PTI reported.The results will be declared on August 3.In an unexpected development, the protests against the NEET question paper leak, which turned violent in Patna, emerged as a major election issue.Kishor hopes the issue will help him become Jan Suraaj’s lone representative in the Assembly, PTI reported.When five-term Bankipur MLA Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April, weeks after being elevated to the post of BJP national president, the party considered the July 30 bypoll an easy contest and fielded 32-year-old, low-profile youth wing leader Neeraj Kumar Sinha.However, the contest gained significance after the political strategist-turned-politician entered the race in an attempt to revive his fledgling Jan Suraaj party, which failed to win a single seat in the Assembly elections held in November last year.Faced with the high-profile challenge, Nabin left no stone unturned to remind voters in his pocket borough that he “may now be in Parliament, but Bankipur shall remain top priority”.He led an intensive campaign in support of Sinha and was joined by almost all prominent BJP leaders with roots in Bihar.On the penultimate day of campaigning on Monday, Patna witnessed a grand roadshow led by Nabin.He was accompanied by Bihar chief minister Samrat Choudhary, local MP Ravi Shankar Prasad and others.The presence of artistes-turned-politicians Manoj Tiwari, Pawan Singh and Maithili Thakur added glamour to the campaign, while BJP allies also contributed to the party’s efforts.Union minister Chirag Paswan, who heads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), maintained the campaign momentum on the final day.However, the most talked-about aspect of the campaign was Kishor’s tireless canvassing.The 49-year-old covered almost every street in the Assembly constituency, seeking support from voters.PK reportedly urged people to express their dissatisfaction with Samrat Choudhary, who was hand-picked by the BJP leadership to head the government after Nitish Kumar stepped down, PTI reported.On Monday, the BJP released a video showing 75-year-old JD(U) supremo Kumar, the state’s longest-serving chief minister and now a Rajya Sabha MP, campaigning for the leading party in the ruling alliance.Kishor, however, alleged that Kumar’s appeal to Bankipur voters to “press the button next to lotus” was “AI-generated”.“The BJP knows it is losing Bankipur and it is now only a question of the victory margin. Let them get Kumar say the same words uttered in the video in person before any media person whom they trust,” PK said.“If he can manage to do so, I shall withdraw from the contest”, Kishor added.Kishor, the founder of IPAC, has for years emphasised the need to overhaul Bihar’s education system.He also hopes that the protests over the NEET examination paper leaks, which led to Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Union education minister, will work in his favour in Bankipur.The BJP appears aware of Kishor’s ability to mount a strong challenge.Another notable candidate in the contest is RJD’s Rekha Gupta, the runner-up in the 2025 Assembly elections, when Nabin won the seat by a huge margin of more than 50,000 votes.Gupta’s campaign remained lacklustre, with most senior party leaders staying away from the city.However, the situation changed a few days ago when RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav returned to the campaign.Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, has campaigned intensively over the past few days, attacking the ruling NDA over its alleged brutal repression of the student protests.The BJP-led NDA is now hoping that a possible division of opposition votes will help the party secure a comfortable victory.(With agency inputs)
