Prashant Kishor Wins Bihar Bypoll in BJP Stronghold

Patna: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor won the Bankipur Assembly by-election in Bihar, defeating BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar by 18,953 votes.

In the other bypolls, the Congress candidate won in Datia, Madhya Pradesh, while the BJP retained Manjalpur in Gujarat.

Kishor defeated Neeraj Kumar in Bankipur, a BJP stronghold where the party had remained unbeaten. The setback in the first election result following the student protests at Jantar Mantar has dealt a further blow to the BJP.

The Bankipur by-election was necessitated after BJP national working president Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April.

In Datia, Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh defeated BJP candidate Ashutosh Tiwari by 6,016 votes. The by-election was held after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti was disqualified.

In Gujarat’s Manjalpur constituency, BJP candidate Satish Govindbhai Patel retained the seat, defeating Congress candidate Bhikhabhai Rabari by 30,630 votes. The by-election was necessitated following the death of Yogesh Patel, who had served as a BJP MLA for three consecutive terms.