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Jan Suraaj Party candidate Prashant Kishor widened his lead over BJP’s Neeraj Kumar Sinha in the Bankipur Assembly by-election on Monday, moving 10,436 votes ahead after 18 rounds of counting, officials said.

Kishor had secured 35,713 votes, while Sinha had polled 25,277 votes. RJD candidate Rekha Gupta was in third place with 9,316 votes.

Counting began at 8 am at A N College in Patna, with 31 rounds scheduled in total. The result is being closely watched as Kishor seeks to win the BJP-held seat in his first electoral contest.

Celebrations begin at Jan Suraaj camp

The widening lead triggered celebrations among Jan Suraaj supporters at the party headquarters and outside the counting centre.

Supporters were seen dancing to local songs and distributing sweets as the early trends favoured Kishor.

However, the final result will only be clear after all 31 rounds of counting are completed.

JD(U) ministers Shrawon Kumar and Sunil Kumar urged people to wait for the official result, pointing out that counting was still in progress.

Why the Bankipur contest matters

The by-election was necessitated after BJP national president Nitin Nabin resigned from the Bankipur Assembly seat in April following his election to the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP has fielded its youth wing leader Neeraj Kumar Sinha, while the RJD has again nominated Rekha Gupta.

Gupta had contested the seat in the 2025 Assembly election and lost to Nabin by more than 50,000 votes.

For Kishor, the contest is a key test of whether his Jan Suraaj Party can make an electoral breakthrough in an urban seat long associated with the BJP.

Turnout fell sharply

The Bankipur bypoll was held on July 30 and recorded a voter turnout of 34.30 per cent, or around 1.30 lakh voters.

This was more than seven percentage points lower than the 41.45 per cent turnout recorded in the previous Assembly election.

Of the nearly 3.8 lakh eligible voters, 2,00,060 were men, 1,79,533 were women and 23 were from the third-gender category.

Before counting began, RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav visited Baba Harihar Nath Temple in Sonepur and offered prayers.

The Bankipur result is being closely followed in Bihar as Kishor attempts to turn his political campaign into an electoral victory.

With 18 of the 31 rounds completed, Kishor remains firmly ahead, but the final outcome will depend on the remaining rounds.