Patna: Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) faced a difficult start on counting day, with Election Commission of India trends showing the party trailing across Bihar and, in several seats, even falling behind the NOTA (none of the above) option.
Despite fielding candidates in nearly all 243 constituencies and carrying out an extensive grassroots campaign, the party did not register a lead anywhere in the initial hours of counting.
JSP sinks behind NOTA in Govindganj, Alinagar and others
Fresh early-round data indicates that Jan Suraaj candidates are trailing NOTA in several constituencies. In Govindganj, Krishna Kant Mishra polled 5,111 votes, far behind the leading candidates and behind NOTA, which received 1,568 votes.
Screengrab of the EC website.
In Arrah, Vijay Kumar Gupta has polled 2,326 votes while NOTA stands higher at 2,505 votes.
A similar pattern is visible in Warsaliganj, where Umesh Prasad has secured 488 votes, trailing NOTA which has registered 1,211 votes.
In Araria, Farhat Ara Begum has received 881 votes, again behind NOTA which has 1,184 votes.
In Alinagar, Biplaw Kumar Choudhary is also trailing NOTA. He has 1,193 votes, compared with NOTA at 2,165 votes.
Screengrab of the EC website.
Party leaders acknowledged the disappointing performance. Speaking to PTI, Jan Suraaj’s Bihar president Manoj Bharti said the trends showed that voters had not connected with the party’s message. He said, “Prashant Kishor always said if people understood what we were saying, we would be on top; if they did not, we would fail.”
Key constituencies offer little relief for Kishor's JSP
None of the party’s focus seats showed signs of a breakthrough. In Chhapra, former IPS officer JP Singh was trailing both the BJP and RJD candidates in a constituency long considered a BJP stronghold. In Mokama, Priyadarshi Piyush lagged behind JD(U)’s Anant Kumar Singh and the RJD’s Veena Devi.
Suraj Kumar in Lakhisarai was unable to narrow the gap with BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha. In Tarapur, Santosh Singh fell behind in a contest centred on Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary. Similar patterns were visible in Darbhanga, Alinagar and Kargahar, where Rakesh Kumar Mishra, Biplaw Kumar Choudhary and Bhojpuri singer Ritesh Ranjan Pandey respectively trailed their rivals.
Screengrab of the EC website.
The early trends aligned with exit poll predictions that had forecast between zero and five seats for the party. While Kishor did not contest the election himself, the vote share of JSP will be closely watched to assess whether the party has been able to carve out durable political space despite its weak showing on debut.
