RJD Fields 2025 Runner-up, Undermines Prashant Kishore's Chances Against The BJP In Bankipur Bypoll
RJD’s announcement of Rekha Kumari as its candidate may pave the way for yet another win by the saffron party.
By Dev Raj
Published : July 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM IST
|Updated : July 7, 2026 at 10:49 PM IST
Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has practically doomed the chances of Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) leader Prashant Kishor, who is going to taste his first battle of hustings from the Bankipur Assembly constituency, by announcing its own candidate Rekha Kumari.
The move ensured that the fight that was being billed as Prashant versus Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Nitin Nabin became a triangular one. It will divide the Opposition votes and pave the way for yet another win by the saffron party.
Bankipur, which is an urban seat located in the heart of Bihar's capital Patna, is considered a pocket borough of the BJP. It has won the seat in nine consecutive polls since 1995. While Nitin bagged it five times, his late father Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha clinched it four times.
The seat fell vacant following Nitin's election to the Rajya Sabha, necessitating the by-election. Though the BJP has announced a relatively unknown Abhishek Kumar as its candidate, he is said to have been handpicked by Nitin, turning the contest into a high-profile one.
Prashant's Presence Threatens RJD’s Survival
A united Opposition rallying behind Prashant would have stood a better chance against the BJP, which is leading the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state. But then, the RJD took the step for its own survival and for the sake of its national working president Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
"If Prashant was left alone to contest from Bankipur and emerged victorious, he would have become the face of the Opposition in the public and also in the legislative Assembly. He would have acquired the leading role in the Assembly despite being the only MLA of his party," a senior RJD leader told ETV Bharat.
The RJD leader asserted that in the event of a win, the JSP machinery and functioning system with a deep reach in the media, coupled with Prashant's own popularity, would have created a chance for him to become a face of Opposition and emerge as a national-level politician.
"Apart from Prashant versus Nitin fight, we are also seeing it as a contest between Prashant versus our leader Tejashwi contest. Our party's effort will be to get more votes than him (Prashant) to settle the question as to who will be the leader of Opposition," he said.
One of the worries of the RJD is that the JSP could manage to rally general category castes, Muslims, and all others who are frustrated with the BJP, its rule, increasing inflation, unemployment, crime and corruption.
Several of RJD’s senior leaders agreed that fielding Rekha as a candidate will aid the BJP indirectly in the bypoll, but it was a necessary evil as its own survival is at stake in the aftermath of the severe drubbing it received in the November 2025 Assembly election.
The NDA won 202 out of a total of 243 seats while the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, including the Congress and the Left parties, could get only 35 while Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM got five and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagged one.
Sources in the RJD also pointed at an “ego clash” between Tejashwi and Prashant. “If he (Prashant) wanted Opposition unity, he should have approached us, Congress, CPIML, CPI, and CPM about it. He and his party just announced him as the candidate without taking any other party into confidence. This indicates what he thought about joining hands against the BJP," another senior RJD leader told ETV Bharat.
RJD Defends Its Decision To Field Candidate In Bankipur
With Tejashwi currently in Europe on a vacation with family, it has been left for other senior leaders of the party to defend the fielding of the candidate.
"Rekha is not just a candidate of our party, she is the candidate of the entire Mahagathbandhan. She contested the November 2025 Assembly polls as well and was at the second position. Fielding her has been a logical decision by our party and in line with the alliance decisions," RJD principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui told ETV Bharat.
In the 2025 election, Nitin secured 98,299 votes to win Bankipur and Rekha bagged 46,363 votes to become the runner-up.
"We have fielded a strong candidate in the Bankipur bypoll. If Prashant really wants to defeat the BJP and doesn’t want the secular votes to scatter, he should come out in her support and announce that he will not contest," said RJD state general secretary and spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan.
Chitranjan asserted that Prashant was just a hype and the JSP fared poorly in the 2025 Assembly polls. It contested 238 seats, but could not win even a single one. Its candidates forfeited their election deposit in almost all constituencies.
‘Informed Mahagathbandhan About Prashant’s Intention To Contest’
Prashant is going to file his nomination papers on July 11. Voting will be held on July 30 and counting will be held on August 3.
Asked about the absence of Opposition unity and why the JSP did not strive for it, its Bihar president and former diplomat Manoj Bhart pointed that that his party had publicised Prashant’s intention to contest from Bankipur in a bid to inform the Mahagathbandhan about it, but did not formally approach any of its constituents.
"Our purpose was to tell the Mahagathbandhan that if it wanted to defeat the BJP in Bankipur then there could be no better candidate than Prashant Kishor. The Congress understood this but the RJD announced its candidate. It should be observed that no top leader of the RJD, even its national president Lalu Prasad, has endorsed the decision of the party to field a candidate. It is a half-baked decision taken in a hurry while Tejashwi is holidaying in Europe," Manoj told ETV Bharat.
Accepting that Bankipur has been a stronghold of the BJP, the JSB Bihar president pointed out that it has been so because the people had no alternative and did not want to bring back the ‘jungleraj’ (lawlessness, or law of the jungle).
"The people in Bankipur have voted for the BJP half-heartedly. Just see the voting percentage in the previous polls. It has been around 34 to 38 per cent. Most of the people did not come out to vote. Therefore, we are requesting the people to come out to vote in large numbers. Even if 55 per cent voters turn out, we will not be affected by the RJD candidate’s presence, and win the poll," Manoj added.
Manoj said that the JSP has been campaigning in the constituency for the past two-and-a-half months and telling the people that they must vote for Prashant if it wanted to raise the issues plaguing the public.
He added that there was a remarkable enthusiasm among the voters this time and they promised to vote for Prashant, irrespective of caste, creed or community.
However, the election is also expected to be a ‘make or break’ for Prashant as the JSP performed poorly in the 2025 Assembly polls. A win will immediately turn him into a formidable politician who can challenge the BJP while a loss may give him the tag of ‘a better consultant than a politician’ and put a question mark on his presence and future in politics.
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