New Delhi: Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Tuesday openly acknowledged his party’s complete failure in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, admitting that he was unable to win the confidence of the state’s voters despite a high-voltage, three-year-long grassroots campaign.
Addressing the media in Patna, Kishor said the election results were a “clear message” from the people of Bihar and accepted full responsibility for the party’s defeat.
“We made an honest effort, but it was completely unsuccessful. Forget about systemic change; we couldn’t even bring about a change in power. If the public did not show faith in us, then the responsibility is completely mine,” he said.
“I take that responsibility 100 per cent on myself, that I could not win the faith of the people of Bihar.” Kishor said he will observe a day-long Maun upvas (silent fast) on November 20 at the Gandhi Bhitiharwa Ashram as an act of atonement for failing to achieve the change he had promised.
Reiterating his commitment to continue the Jan Suraaj movement, he declared: “I will work twice as hard as you’ve seen me work over the past three years and put in all my energy. There’s no question of backing down.”
While taking responsibility for his party’s performance, Kishor firmly defended Jan Suraaj’s conduct during the campaign. “We may have made mistakes, but we have not committed any crime,” he said, stressing that the party had not engaged in caste-based, communal, or divisive politics.
“We have not committed the crime of spreading caste poison. We have not played Hindu-Muslim politics. We have not bought votes. Whatever mistakes were made were ours—of strategy, of communication—not of intent.”
Jan Suraaj, which contested 238 of Bihar’s 243 seats, failed to win even a single constituency despite drawing large crowds during the campaign. Kishor admitted that the party was unable to effectively communicate why voters should support a new political alternative.
The Bihar mandate was decisively in favour of the NDA, which scored a sweeping victory with 202 seats—its second time crossing the 200-mark after 2010. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 89 seats, followed by Janata Dal (United) with won 85, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJPRV) won 19, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAMS) won five, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha won four seats.
In contrast, the opposition Mahagathbandhan registered a poor performance, with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won 25 seats, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) – CPI(ML)(L) – two, Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) – one and Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M) one seat.
Despite the electoral setback, Kishor insisted that the movement for a “better Bihar” would continue with even greater determination.
