Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party yet to open account in Bihar polls

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), dubbed the ‘X factor’ in the Bihar polls, was yet to open its account in the 243-member assembly. As per trends available with the Election Commission, most of the JSP candidates have secured less than 10 per cent of the total votes polled. The party, floated by the former political strategist, failed to galvanise votes in its favour, despite a high-pitched campaign and raising pressing issues such as unemployment, migration and dearth of industries.

A majority of the JSP candidates in 238 constituencies look set to forfeit their security deposit, according to the Commission data. As per rules, candidates must secure at least one-sixth of the total votes polled to retrieve their security deposit – Rs 10,000 for general candidates and Rs 5,000 for SC and ST nominees.

Failure to meet this threshold results in deposit forfeiture, an official said. In many seats, the count is less than the NOTA (None of the Above) category. Mohammad Ekramul Haque, a JSP candidate from the Forbesganj assembly seat, secured just 789 votes after the 24th round of counting, while 2,253 votes were registered under NOTA.

Among the very few JSP nominees who secured above 10 per cent of votes include Tripurari Kumar Tiwary alias Manish Kashyap (16.58 per cent) from Chanpatia seat after the 18th round of counting, and Sarfaraj Alam (16.34 per cent) from the Jokihat seat after the 23rd round.

Kishor had earlier claimed that his party would win 150 seats, but later asserted it would either be on the top or at the bottom in the seat tally, but that there is no middle ground in the Bihar polls.

Meanwhile, JSP spokesperson Pavan K Varma said the party would undertake a "serious review" of its performance in the Bihar elections.

The NDA was set to sweep the Bihar polls, surging ahead in close to 200 out of 243 seats, with the BJP winning in eight seats and leading in 83 others, as the the EC data.