PK and his team of 500: Inside story of how Prashant Kishor scripted his Bankipur victory

During the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, the Jan Suraaj Party, led by Prashant Kishor, had a thin cadre but a strong presence on social media to dominate the narrative against the major parties of the NDA and the INDIA bloc. The strategy, however, failed to click and the party wrapped up its election run with less than 4 per cent vote share. This time, however, in the Bankipur by-election, the party returned with a big bang, not only dislodging the BJP from its traditional stronghold but also winning by a margin of around 19,000 votes.

The difference was that, rather than building its organisational network across the state, the party had the geographical advantage of focusing on a single seat, where it was able to deploy workers in sufficient numbers to spread its message and remain among the people to build trust. A Jan Suraaj leader said, "There are 22 wards in the Bankipur Assembly constituency. Each ward had a ward chairman assisted by a few people. Overall, around 500 people consistently worked on the ground to reach out to voters. They were ordinary workers who, without any financial incentive, worked for the party to establish it."

And the party's strategy worked remarkably well. Jan Suraaj dominated more than 400 of the Assembly constituency's 420 booths. The strategy also resulted in the BJP losing the home booth of its national president, Nitin Nabin, in Bankipur, the booth considered impregnable by many.

According to party insiders, there was a marked difference in Prashant Kishor's approach between the 2025 Assembly elections and the 2026 by-election. First, he had a much smaller area to focus on. Second, he was far more involved in planning and monitoring the campaign. In the Assembly elections of 2025, the party had a thin cadre, inexperienced workers and a much heavier organisational burden to take care of even when the structure of the party had not matured to the levels of other smaller formations in the state.

The victory has also given party workers a winning story that could strengthen its ranks and help replicate the same model in future elections. The party had mapped households and individual voters to reach out to them and explain Prashant Kishor's national profile as a political strategist who had helped several chief ministers win elections but chose to return to Bihar to contribute to the state's development.

PK's team comprises a large number of educated young volunteers who understand Bihar's challenges and sincerely subscribe to his vision for the state. Their belief in his campaign seems to have made them a committed and energetic force against established political players. Political observers believe the victory has increased Kishor's visibility and is likely to attract more people to his movement as he has now formally become a more prominent figure in Bihar's political discourse by being a member of the state assembly.

"He has clarity in his words and a single-point agenda around which he weaves his rhetoric. With each passing day, that rhetoric gains greater significance. His election victory is evidence of the power of that message. As an individual, he was able to dislodge a party that had held the seat for over three decades," a political analyst said.

According to party insiders, PK had set his sights on the seat nearly two months before the election. While the BJP was confident of retaining the constituency and the RJD had little expectation because of the constituency's caste arithmetic, Kishor focused on drawing support from across communities. Instead of relying on caste politics, he built his campaign around development and intensive grassroots outreach, a strategy that ultimately brought him victory.

The party's next move will be to expand its footprint. PK has said in his speeches that he will continue to devote time to the constituency while taking his message across Bihar to consolidate support for his party, which he calls a new political alternative in the state.