BJP Bihar President Sanjay Saraogi presents party membeship slip to Jan Suraaj leader K.C. Sinha as the latter joins BJP during a press conference, in Patna, on July 15, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
In a setback to Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), three of its leaders joined the BJP on Wednesday (July 15, 2026) ahead of the Bankipur Assembly byelection.
Those inducted into the BJP by the party’s State president Sanjay Saraogi included renowned academician K.C. Sinha, Ritesh Ranjan alias Bittu Singh, and Sandip Kumar Singh alias Gopal Singh. All three had contested the 2025 Assembly elections as Jan Suraaj candidates and lost from Kumhrar, Digha and Maner constituencies respectively.
Joining the BJP, Mr. Sinha — a famous educationist in Patna and author of several academic books— said he took the decision in “national interest”. The other two JSP leaders asserted they would now remain in the BJP for life and would not go anywhere from here.
The Bankipur bypoll, scheduled for July 30, will witness a contest between Mr. Kishor and BJP nominee Neeraj Kumar Sinha. The BJP has fielded small-time party worker Neeraj Kumar Sinha, while the JSP founder and former poll-strategist Prashant Kishor himself has thrown his hat in the poll ring this time.
Earlier, the BJP had fielded Abhishek Kumar ‘Bunty’ on the seat. However, he withdrew his candidature a day after filing his nomination papers, citing “family reasons”. Party insiders told The Hindu that his withdrawal was a result of “bitter internal feud of party leaders”.
Meanwhile, the party candidates in fray have started a whirlwind campaign in the constituency. On June 14, the BJP president Nitin Nabin inaugurated party’s local campaign office at Kidwaipuri locality and has been meeting local people in his door-to-door campaign appealing to vote for the BJP candidate.
JSP’s Mr. Kishor is also meeting people of the constituency regularly, calling them the most “literate and enlightened” voters of the State who would exercise their franchise after giving “much thought” over it. Mr. Kishor is the lone star campaigners of his party, while BJP has listed 40 star campaigners, including Nitin Nabin, for the campaign ahead of the byelection.
‘Lot at stake for both parties – BJP and JSP’
Meanwhile, the locals believe that “a lot if at stake for both, the BJP and the JSP” in this bypoll. The result will decide their future course of action, they said.
“The contest on the Bankipur seat this time is directly between the BJP and JSP candidates. The JSP candidate Prashant Kishor has created much hue and cry on social media because of his persona, but the BJP is likely to retain the seat. However, the margin of victory will be reduced this time,” refrained several voters of the Assembly constituency on Wednesday (July 15, 2026), adding that the “the BJP has its cadre and caste vote bank intact to win the poll which Mr. Kishor lacks badly”.
The Opposition RJD candidate Rekha Gupta was, seemingly, pushed at third position as no senior party leaders was seen to kick-off of her campaign yet. Party leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is also Leader of Opposition in State Assembly, is said to be on a foreign tour.
Further, the nomination for Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) candidate Veena Manvi was cancelled on June 14 due to some technical faults in the submitted form. The JJD was recently founded by Tej Pratap Yadav, elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Published – July 15, 2026 04:36 pm IST
