Nabin orders review after mixed by-election verdict

BJP national president Nitin Nabin has accepted the party’s mixed verdict in three Assembly by-elections, pledging a detailed review after defeats in Bihar’s Bankipur and Madhya Pradesh’s Datia while thanking Gujarat voters for retaining Manjalpur.

Nabin said the party had not secured the mandate it expected in Bankipur and Datia. He promised a serious examination of the results and said BJP workers would return to the electorate with renewed energy to strengthen public trust.

The results delivered a sharp setback in Bankipur, where Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor defeated BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar by 19,324 votes. Kishor polled 64,151 votes, compared with Kumar’s 44,827, while Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Rekha Kumari finished third with 14,273.

Kishor’s victory carries added political weight because Bankipur had remained under BJP control for more than three decades. Nabin himself won the constituency in the 2025 Bihar Assembly election by 51,936 votes, securing about 62 per cent of the vote. The by-election was required after he vacated the seat following his elevation as BJP national president and election to the Rajya Sabha.

The result marked Kishor’s first electoral victory and gave Jan Suraaj its first Assembly seat. The party had failed to win a constituency in the 2025 Bihar election, despite an extensive campaign built around education, employment, migration and administrative reform.

Kishor described the verdict as a message to the BJP’s central leadership and challenged the party’s choice of leadership in Bihar. He said voters wanted governance focused on education and economic development, while promising visible improvements in Bankipur within three months.

The loss is particularly significant because Bankipur is an urban Patna constituency with an established BJP organisation and a sizeable base among upper-caste, professional and middle-income voters. Kishor’s ability to breach that support structure will prompt scrutiny of candidate selection, local organisation and voter dissatisfaction.

The BJP also lost Datia, where Congress veteran Ghanshyam Singh defeated Ashutosh Tiwari by 6,016 votes. Singh secured 66,757 votes, while Tiwari received 60,741. The Congress retained a constituency where the contest had become closely associated with local factional divisions and disagreements within the BJP organisation.

Datia’s result is expected to bring the district unit and campaign management under examination. Discontent over the BJP nominee, allegations of weak coordination and divisions among influential local leaders had complicated the party’s campaign. Congress relied on Singh’s local network and familiarity with the electorate to withstand the BJP’s organisational strength.

The BJP’s sole victory came in Manjalpur in Vadodara, where Satish Govindbhai Patel defeated Congress candidate Bhikhabhai Rabari by 30,499 votes. Patel retained a seat long held by the BJP, extending the party’s dominance in an urban constituency with a strong organisational base.

Nabin thanked Manjalpur voters for placing their confidence in the party and congratulated its workers and office-bearers. The by-election followed the death of eight-term legislator and former Gujarat minister Yogesh Patel, who had represented Manjalpur since its creation after delimitation.

Polling in Manjalpur was marked by a turnout of 37.5 per cent, substantially lower than the 60.15 per cent recorded during the 2022 Assembly election. Despite the reduced participation, the BJP maintained a comfortable advantage over Congress throughout counting.

The three outcomes present contrasting signals for the national ruling party. Manjalpur demonstrated the durability of its organisation in Gujarat, but Bankipur exposed vulnerability in a constituency regarded as one of its safest seats. Datia showed that internal discontent and local equations can override the advantage of governing power.

The Bankipur verdict will command the closest attention because it came only months after the National Democratic Alliance’s decisive Bihar election victory. Kishor transformed what initially appeared to be a difficult debut into a direct contest against the BJP, while the RJD was pushed to a distant third place.