Bihar bypoll: Bankipur byelection counting begins, Prashant Kishor’s electoral debut in focus

The count for the Bankipur Assembly bypoll in Bihar commenced on Monday, August 3, 2026, at 8 a.m. in Patna, with a keen interest in the debut of Prashant Kishor of the Jan Suraaj Party, who was vying to win the seat from the BJP. The by-election was prompted by the resignation of BJP national president Nitin Nabin, who stepped down in April to take his seat in the Rajya Sabha. "The counting of votes for the Bankipur by-election began amidst stringent security measures," reported an official source.

The poll was conducted on July 30, 2026, and witnessed a voter turnout of 34.30%, a decline of over seven percent from the 41.45% recorded during the last Assembly elections. This time, there were 26 candidates participating in the contest. Nitin Nabin had previously won the Assembly seat five times consecutively in November 2025, defeating his closest rival Rekha Gupta of the RJD by more than 50,000 votes.

The RJD, in turn, nominated Gupta for the by-election. Kishor, a former poll strategist who founded the Jan Suraaj Party a few years ago, was contesting his first election, while the BJP, which had never lost the Assembly segment since 1995 under its former name Patna West, fielded Neeraj Kumar Sinha, a leader from their youth wing.