Bankipur bypoll: Prashant Kishor accuses Bihar Police of detaining supporters at BJP's behest

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Thursday alleged that Bihar Police had detained several of his supporters ahead of polling for the crucial Bankipur Assembly by-election, accusing the ruling BJP of using the police to influence the contest.

Kishor, who is making his electoral debut from the prestigious Bankipur seat, made the allegations just hours before voting began for the bypoll, necessitated by BJP state president Nitin Nabin's resignation from the Assembly.

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Speaking to reporters outside the Jakkanpur police station in Patna, Kishor claimed that more than 16 of his supporters had been taken into custody, with the police allegedly failing to disclose where they were being held.

"I have been camping here for the past few hours, and the police is unable to divulge whereabouts of more than 16 of my supporters who have been rounded up," he said.

Kishor alleged that the detentions were carried out without any formal record.

"I am not describing these as arrests since there is no record of which of my people have been named in which case. I came to this police station after learning that they had been kept at the Jakkanpur police station. But, here I am told that they have all been taken to different police stations. The SHO here even claims that the police station was not involved in the detentions, which were carried out at the instance of higher-ups," the former poll strategist alleged.

Police officials were not immediately available for comment on the allegations.

Kishor further accused the BJP of orchestrating the detentions, claiming the ruling party feared defeat in the bypoll.

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"Clearly, the ruling BJP is behind these detentions. It knows it is going to lose the bypoll. The police can keep a person in custody for 24 hours without producing him before a magistrate. So a plan has been devised to keep some of my supporters in custody till the time voting is over," he claimed.

He also alleged misuse of the state machinery during the campaign, saying it would not alter the outcome of the election.

"This misuse of administrative machinery, however, cannot ensure the victory of the ruling NDA, which roped in almost all 201 of its MLAs for the campaign," Kishor said.

He further alleged that the BJP circulated a fabricated video of JD(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the campaign.

"Realising that the ground was slipping from under its feet, the BJP even got a fake video of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar in which the longest serving chief minister of Bihar was shown as seeking votes for its candidate," Kishor alleged.

The Bankipur bypoll is widely seen as a direct contest between Kishor and BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha, though 26 candidates are in the fray.

Kishor said he would pursue action against the police after the election.

"I am sitting at the police station to highlight the sheer lack of professionalism on part of the police. The SHO here has tried to intimidate us and threatened to book one of my party colleagues under the draconian prohibition law. Once we are through with the bypoll, we will definitely press for action against the erring police officials," he said.