As the counting of votes polled in the Assembly by-election held in Bihar’s Bankipur is underway, early trends show that Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder is ahead of its rivals in the seat that the BJP had previously occupied. At the end of the tenth round of counting, Kishor leads 6,011-vote margin over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Neeraj Kumar Sinha. With 2,599 votes, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Rekha Gupta is still a distant third. Why the Bankipur bypoll is significantThe Bankipur by-election was held on July 30, 2026 (Thursday) and has garnered widespread interest across the nation because of poll strategist-turned-politician Kishor’s direct debut as a candidate from the long-standing BJP fortress.