Prashant Kishor, also known as PK, the pollster-turned-politician, has created a massive buzz with his newly launched political outfit, Jan Suraaj Party. He’s got the thump of 2013 AAP, sans the Anna Andolan. He has openly acknowledged this by claiming to act as a Vote-Cutter (Vote Katwa) in the upcoming elections, although his party is no match for already established political parties like the RJD, BJP, JDU, and the LJP (RV). PK and his party are competing against the smaller parties like HAM(S), VIP, the trio of Communists (CPI, CPM, and CPI ML Liberation), and the skeletal remains of INC.
For a common Bihari, PK is just another Kejriwal, positioning himself as ‘Mr. Clean’ with lousy press conferences and the “Kuch bhi kar, Facebook pe daal” ‘Social Media-first’ strategy. He is vocal on the most resonated topic – Shiksha & Rozgaar (Education & Employment), but at the same time, he is creating fear among women when he talks about removing the Liquor Ban. Removing liquor ban (also called Daaru Bandi or Sharab Bandi) will create a huge ruckus, leading to an increase in domestic violence and Addabazi (a common term for Hooligans’ gathering on every corner).
But he seems to have lost it all when it came to contesting elections. PK refusing to contest from both Kargahar (his home turf) and Raghopur (Tejaswi Yadav’s constituency) has led Jan Suraaj to fight without its supreme commander. A battle lost beforehand. But anyway, let’s take a look at PK and his Jan Suraaj Party.
Prashant Kishor is not an unknown name for the Biharis. PK was active in the 2015 Elections and was a major reason for the RJD-JDU Mahagathbandhan victory. That election had launched Lalu’s sons,Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, in the state politics and had given a new lease of life to the RJD, which had been reduced to just 22 in the 2010 Bihar Assembly Elections.
PK and his aides were the main force behind twisting Narendra Modi’s DNA statement about Nitish Kumar and the RSS Chief’s remark on Reservations. These two twisted statements dented the BJP’s otherwise secure voter base and made it lose the 2015 assembly elections.
Long story short, PK took his revenge from the Modi-Shah Duo and grabbed a power position by becoming Vice President of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and even got a cabinet minister rank as Political advisor to the Bihar CM in 2016.
His stint with Nitish ended when he switched back to NDA, and PK moved his operations from Bihar to other states. Subsequently, PK advised YSR Jagan Mohan Reddy, MK Stalin, and Capt. Amarinder Singh, Arvind Kejriwal, and Mamata Banerjee later on. He also got the same position in Punjab as Political Advisor to the CM, but the dynamics changed, and Captain was rushed out of power.
His 2021 stint with TMC proved quite beneficial to Mamata Banerjee, who fought elections on the Bohiragato (Outsider) Card. But soon after that, PK divested all stakes from IPAC and left alone to focus on his political journey in Bihar.
Making of JSP – The Jan Suraaj Party
The Jan Suraaj Party basically started as a subtle social media movement, “Baat Bihar Ki,” in the 2020 Bihar elections, when PK came back to create an alternative in Bihar Politics. After his successful campaigns in Bengal and Tamil Nadu in 2021, PK announced his retirement from Electioneering, hinting at a hiatus from campaigning for others and focusing on his own political outfit.
On 2nd October 2022, Prashant Kishor started his Jan Suraaj Abhiyaan Padyatra from Bhitiharwa Gandhi Ashram in Champaran, which ran for two years. He and his team travelled extensively in the state, creating a massive buzz among Common Biharis who still get fascinated with Leaders visiting their grounds.
Two Years later, on 2nd October 2024, PK officially launched the Jan Suraaj Party. This party, from its inception, has been backed by Bureaucrats and Senior politicians who’ve been in the dark for long. Ex IFS Manoj Bharti, handpicked by PK, is a smart choice for Bihar State President as he fulfills both ‘Education’ and the desired ‘Social Community’ Criteria.
A year later, he added Uday Singh, aka Pappu Singh, Former MP Purnia, as the 1st National President of Jan Suraaj Party. Uday Singh hails from a prominent Political Family. Grandson of one of Bihar’s largest landowners, Mol Babu, Uday Singh’s mother, Madhuri Singh, was a two-time MP from Purnia. His elder brother, veteran bureaucrat and former Rajya Sabha MP NK Singh, headed the 15th Finance Commission as well. His family ties also link him with Former Governor Nikhil Kumar of Bihar, Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha’s Family
The Challenges
Having a rock-solid consulting and strategy background led PK to master the social buzz and pushed his party to the electoral forefront, but that didn’t end well as people started to jump the boat one by one. Firstly, Young faces like Anand Mishra and then other senior politicians like Rambali Chandravanshi, Devendra Yadav, and others, all left Jan Suraaj in a jiffy.
Another chaotic milestone came when the party declared to field candidates on all 243 seats. Many party workers claimed Ticket selling and the highest bid strategy when Parachute candidates were finalized, instead of those who worked for months on the ground. Prashant Kishor, who was being propped up as an alternative, was rumored to be contesting from Raghopur, the constituency of Tejaswi Yadav. Another such seat was Kargahar, the home constituency of Prashant Kishor, where he fielded Bhojpuri Singer Ritesh Pandey. Prashant Kishor refused to fight from any seat and hence left his own party without a commander.
The reason behind PK’s refusal can be his inclusion as a voter of West Bengal’s Bhowanipore Assembly, which surfaced during Mamata Banerjee’s re-election bid in the 2021 By-Polls after her Nandigram defeat.
The Gist – What will be the overall Impact if Jan Suraaj performs as planned?
The JSP has declared candidates on 116 out of 243 seats. Let’s take a look at those who hold them currently.
Bar Chart: JSP 2025 Contesting Seats: 2020 Winners
Source: Election Commission of India
As we can see, by contesting on these 116/243 seats, JSP is trying to pitch itself not as a replacement, but just as a disruptor to the whole bloc. Any Tom, Dick, Harry can easily analyze that contesting less than half the seats is not going to make a CM from the Jan Suraaj Party, but place itself as a new regional contender like the VIP, HAM (S), and others.
Bihar’s Electoral History – Disruptors or simply the Party Poopers
Bihar has witnessed such disruptions in the form of Anand Mohan’s Bihar People’s Party in 1995 and Lok Janshakti Party’s two attempts led by Ram Vilas Paswan in February 2005 & Chirag Paswan in the 2020 Elections.
Bihar People’s Party resulted in huge disruptions, leading to Lalu Yadav’s 2nd victory. The super corrupt, lawless regime, which gave Bihar a negative GDP growth in 1990-1995, got a second chance due to vote division and large-scale political slugfests.
Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party disruption in February 2005 led to a hung assembly and president rule, while the last attempt by Chirag Paswan in 2020 resulted in reducing JDU to a less prominent 3rd position while still retaining Nitish as the CM.
In short, the JSP, with all its might sans PK, is now playing in the same field. Giving tickets to high-value candidates with somewhat Face Value, aided by Prashant Kishor’s heavy campaigning, can result in a good amount of vote division and even win on 0-5 seats. But not more than that, and as PK has clearly mentioned in his interview, they may choose to join any front. It will dent both the NDA and the INDI Alliance.
One thing is sure: Prashant Kishor and His Party will become a strong alternative for Bihar in the 2030 Assembly Elections.
Written By – Amit Mishra
Amit is a Political Communications Professional from Bihar with over seven years of experience, he has worked on multiple national and state elections, combining on-ground strategy with deep analysis of India’s evolving political landscape.
