October 21st 2025.
In a press conference held in Patna, Prashant Kishor, a former poll strategist and now a politician, made some serious allegations on Tuesday. He claimed that three candidates from his party, Jan Suraaj Party, were forced to withdraw from the Bihar elections by the BJP. According to Kishor, the ruling NDA is so afraid of losing the elections that they are using their power to pressure opposition candidates to withdraw from the race. He even went as far as to say that democracy is being murdered and there has never been such an incident in the country before. He urged the Election Commission to take action and ensure the safety of the candidates.
Kishor revealed that the three candidates who were forced to withdraw were fielded in the Danapur, Brahampur, and Gopalganj seats. He specifically mentioned the case of Satyaprakash Tiwari, the Brahampur candidate who runs a clinic in Patna. Kishor showed a photo of Tiwari with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the BJP's election-in-charge for Bihar. He claimed that the photo was taken just a day before the deadline for withdrawal of nomination papers. According to Kishor, Pradhan had visited Tiwari's home and pressured him to withdraw from the race, and the very next day, Tiwari withdrew his candidature. Kishor also said that the BJP is trying to secure the victory of their candidate, LJP's Hulas Pandey, who is a local strongman in Brahampur.
Kishor further alleged that the BJP is afraid of candidates who are doctors, educators, activists, and social workers, all of whom were fielded by the Jan Suraaj Party. He shared the example of Shashi Shekhar Sinha, their Gopalganj candidate, and said that Sinha was also pressured by BJP leaders to withdraw from the race. Kishor claimed that a BJP MLC and his supporters met Sinha and convinced him to withdraw his nomination. He also mentioned the case of Akhilesh Shah alias Mutur Shah, their candidate for Danapur, who was allegedly forced to withdraw from the race by the BJP spreading false rumors about his disappearance and involvement of RJD's candidate in it. Kishor even shared a photo of Shah with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Pradhan and claimed that he was not allowed to file his nomination papers due to political and economic pressure from the BJP's leadership.
Kishor expressed his disappointment in the Election Commission and said that they must intervene to prevent such incidents from happening. He even questioned how the Commission will be able to protect voters if they cannot even protect the candidates. Kishor also accused the BJP of trying to replicate the Surat model, where their candidate was elected unopposed as all other nominees were coerced to pull out. He reminded the BJP that they suffered a defeat in the last year's Lok Sabha polls, winning only 240 seats, despite boasting of winning 400-plus seats.
In response to these allegations, the BJP dismissed them and said that Kishor is targeting their leaders to gain attention as he is not getting much of it. BJP spokesperson Ajay Alok even went on to call Kishor a "painted jackal" whose colors are fading as the polling dates approach. The elections in Bihar will be held in two phases, on November 6 and 11, with the votes being counted on November 14. Kishor's party had initially announced candidates for all 243 assembly seats in Bihar but with the withdrawal of three candidates, they will now be fighting on 240 seats.
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