The vote counting for the Bankipur assembly bypoll in Bihar started at 8 a.m. on Monday, August 3, 2026, in Patna. All eyes are on Prashant Kishor of the Jan Suraaj Party, who is making his electoral debut, as he tries to win the seat from the BJP.
The bypoll was held after Nitin Nabin, the BJP national president, resigned from the seat in April to join the Rajya Sabha. He had won the seat five times in a row before stepping down.
On election day, July 30, only 34.30% of eligible voters turned out, which is lower than the 41.45% seen in the last assembly elections. A total of 26 candidates contested this time.
Nabin had defeated Rekha Gupta of the RJD by over 50,000 votes in November 2025. The RJD nominated Gupta again for this bypoll.
Prashant Kishor, a former election strategist, is running his first election with the Jan Suraaj Party. The BJP, which has never lost this seat since 1995, is fielding Neeraj Kumar Sinha, a lesser-known youth leader, to defend it.