Patna: Prashant Kishor has raised serious questions after the Bihar election results, claiming that the final voting numbers do not match the feedback his team received during the campaign. After Jan Suraj’s disappointing performance in the polls, Kishor said in a TV interview that he believes “something went wrong” during the election. Although he admitted that he does not have concrete evidence at this stage, he insisted that the voting patterns were not natural and did not reflect the mood of the people he met across the state.
According to Kishor, two major factors played a critical role in the last phase of the election. He alleged that the NDA government transferred ₹10,000 to 50,000 women under the Jeevika Didi Yojana just before the voting took place, which had a direct impact on voter decisions. The second factor, he explained, was the fear among sections of the public about the possible return of “Jungle Raj” — a term commonly connected with the period when Lalu Prasad Yadav was in power. Kishor said that many voters, who initially supported Jan Suraj, changed their minds at the last moment because they believed that voting for his party might indirectly help Lalu return to power.
Kishor also expressed concern about what he called “invisible forces” influencing the election. Speaking to India Today, he said that some political parties that people had never heard of received lakhs of votes, which he found highly unusual. When asked whether he believes the voting machines were manipulated, Kishor said he cannot accuse anyone without proof, and so he will not raise complaints about EVMs. However, he strongly emphasised that several figures and voting trends are “incomprehensible” and that something in the election process did not feel normal.
Responding to critics who are now questioning his political future, Kishor said he does not feel affected by the negative commentary. He stated that the same people who are attacking him today were the ones who praised him earlier when he won elections for others. Kishor said success or failure does not decide his journey and that he has no intention of stepping back from politics. “The story is not finished yet,” he remarked, adding that those who are predicting his downfall are actually the most curious to see what he does next.
