Bankipur bypoll records 11.5% turnout till 11 am; Prashant Kishor alleges police targeting Jan Suraaj workers

Bankipur bypoll records 11.5% turnout till 11 am; Prashant Kishor alleges police targeting Jan Suraaj workers

Around 11.5% voter turnout was recorded till 11 am on Thursday in the Bankipur assembly by-election in Bihar, with polling progressing peacefully, election officials said.

Voting began at 7 am across 422 polling stations and will continue until 6 pm. Around 3.8 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 26 candidates, including Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, who is contesting his maiden election.


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

"The polling has so far been peaceful. The voter turnout till 11 am was 11.5 per cent," an official said.

The bypoll has drawn attention with Kishor entering a constituency that has remained a BJP bastion since 1995, when it was known as Patna West. The BJP has fielded Neeraj Kumar Sinha, a youth wing leader, to retain the seat vacated by Nitin Nabin after his election to the Rajya Sabha in April.

Nabin had won the seat for a fifth straight term in the 2025 assembly election, defeating RJD's Rekha Gupta, who is once again in the fray, by more than 50,000 votes.

Among the prominent leaders who cast their votes before 11 am were BJP MP Ravishankar Prasad, senior BJP leader CP Thakur, Nawada MP Vivek Thakur, and Bihar ministers Ramkripal Yadav and Ashok Choudhary.

Nabin urged voters to participate enthusiastically in the electoral process.

“I appeal to all the voters of the Bankipur (Bihar), Manjalpur (Gujarat) and Datia (Madhya Pradesh) assembly constituencies, especially the youth and women, to come out in large numbers to cast their votes and make their invaluable contribution toward strengthening the resolve of a Viksit Bharat,” he wrote in a post on X.

BJP's Bihar unit president Sanjay Saraogi also appealed to voters to exercise their franchise early, saying it would contribute to Bankipur's development.

Calling the contest one-sided, Ramkripal Yadav expressed confidence in the BJP's prospects and targeted Kishor.

“Who is Prashant Kishor? Is he a resident of Bankipur? Can he recall the names of five lanes in the assembly segment? People won’t vote for an outsider who is a billionaire. Nitin Nabin and his father are sons of this land. Neeraj Sinha is also a resident of Bankipur, who will serve the people,” Yadav said.

Ashok Choudhary, who voted along with his wife Neeta Keskar Choudhary, said the constituency needed a representative with deep local connect.

“Nitin Nabin ji was deeply connected to the people of Bankipur as an MLA. Neeraj Kumar Sinha, the BJP candidate, too, is a local worker who maintains a connection with the people,” he said.

After casting his vote with his wife and son, Ravishankar Prasad said the BJP was headed for a comfortable victory.

“I have been voting in this constituency for the last 20 years. People here share a long-standing association with the BJP due to the development works carried out by the NDA governments led by Nitish Kumar and Samrat Choudhary. People want that development should continue with greater momentum. The BJP’s candidate is headed for a decisive victory from Bankipur,” Prasad said.

Meanwhile, Kishor alleged that police had detained Jan Suraaj workers to benefit the BJP during the bypoll.

“More than 16 Jan Suraaj workers were detained by the police between Wednesday evening and night. They were kept at different police stations without specifying any reason, and then shifted to Danapur police station before being taken to the Shahpur PS,” he said.

Speaking outside a polling booth near Patna's Gol Ghar, where he and party colleagues argued with City SP (Central) Mamta Kalyani, Kishor alleged that his polling agents were being detained.

Kalyani rejected the allegations.

“Everyone has the right to vote. No one is being obstructed. We are making a continuous appeal that everyone should come and vote but not form groups because that violates election protocols,” she said.

In a statement, the Patna Senior Superintendent of Police's office said several people had been taken into preventive custody for allegedly violating the Election Commission's 48-hour silence period.

“It was found that some individuals from outside districts were present in the Bankipur assembly constituency, and indications were that they were involved in election campaigning during the 48-hour silence period. Therefore, in accordance with ECI directives, necessary legal action, including preventive detention, was carried out,” the statement said.

The police did not identify those detained or specify whether they were Jan Suraaj workers. Kishor, however, claimed that around 10 of those detained were residents of Patna district and not outsiders.

He also visited the family of one of his supporters near Mandiri Nala, alleging the supporter had been taken away by police around 2 am on Thursday.

According to the Patna district administration, eight super zonal magistrates, 16 zonal magistrates and 42 sector magistrates have been deployed to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling. Additional security personnel have also been stationed in sensitive areas, while officials have been directed to verify suspicious voter identity cards using the Election Commission's QR code-based app and register FIRs in cases involving fake IDs.


(With PTI inputs)