Prashant Kishor, the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), reacted for the first time on 18 November to the loss in the Bihar assembly elections. Sharing comments on his party’s defeat, Kishor, a former election strategist, invoked jailed former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, who had faced losses at the beginning of his political career many years ago in the neighboring country.
“Imran Khan started his party in Pakistan 25 years ago, contested from seven seats and lost all – so contesting elections is subjective. People can debate whether it would have been beneficial had I contested the election or not. I am ready to accept that I couldn’t understand Bihar,” Kishor told reporters on Tuesday.
Imran Khan, currently in jail, founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on 25 April 1996. According to a paper from the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyzes (IDSA), in the 1997 general elections, Imran Khan and PTI contested seven constituencies and lost all of them.
Finally, in the 2002 general elections, he contested from four constituencies and was victorious only in NA-71 Mianwali-I, being elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time.
“I also accept that I don’t understand how to divide Bihar in the name of caste and religion like Lalu Yadav, Samrat Choudhary, and Ashok Choudhary. Trying to improve the state is not a crime, but people are reacting as if I’ve committed one – and you all are here for my postmortem,” Kishor is heard saying in the video of the media interaction.
Khan, a former cricketer, is currently in jail, was sentenced to 14 years in a corruption case (Toshakhana case). He was acquitted in the ‘Cipher Case’ for leaking state secrets, but the court ruled that he would remain in prison due to other ongoing convictions.
Khan was first arrested on 9 May 2023 outside the Islamabad High Court.
I also accept that I don’t understand how to divide Bihar in the name of caste and religion like Lalu Yadav, Samrat Choudhary, and Ashok Choudhary.
Although the Jan Suraaj Party won 3.5 per cent of the total vote share in the Bihar polls, it failed to secure even a single seat. Election Commission of India (ECI) data shows that it secured nil seats in the 238 seats it contested. As many as 236 of its 238 contesting candidates had to forfeit their deposits.
Imran Khan started his party in Pakistan 25 years ago, contested from seven seats and lost all – so contesting elections is subjective.
For a general category candidate, the security deposit for assembly elections is 10,000, while it is Rs.5,000 for SC/ST candidates in assembly elections. This deposit is refunded if the candidate gets at least 1/6th (16.67%) of total valid votes. This means that 236 Jan Suraaj candidates did not even receive 16.67 per cent of the votes in their respective seats.
