Prashant Kishor Alleges BJP Pressure Led to Withdrawal of Three Jan Suraaj Candidates in Bihar Elections

Allegations of Coercion Surface Ahead of Bihar Polls

Political strategist Prashant Kishor, founder of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, publicly alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) exerted pressure on three of his party's candidates, leading to their withdrawal from the upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections. Kishor, addressing the media in Patna, claimed that these actions were a result of the BJP's apprehension about losing the elections.

The Bihar Assembly Elections are slated to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, 2025, with vote counting scheduled for November 14, 2025. The nomination period for the second and final phase concluded on Monday, October 20, 2025.

Specific Candidates Named in Allegations

Kishor identified three specific candidates from the Jan Suraaj Party who allegedly withdrew their nominations under duress:

• Akhilesh Kumar Shah alias Mutur Shah from the Danapur constituency. Kishor alleged that Shah was 'kept' by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, preventing him from filing his nomination.
• Satya Prakash Tiwari from Brahampur. According to Kishor, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan pressured Tiwari to withdraw his candidature.
• Dr. Shashi Shekhar Sinha from Gopalganj. Initially, Dr. Sinha cited health reasons for his withdrawal, but Kishor later claimed he was intimidated by senior BJP leaders.

Kishor presented photographs of top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, with JSP candidates who had recently withdrawn their nominations, questioning the unusual nature of such meetings.

Call for Election Commission Intervention

In response to these alleged incidents, Prashant Kishor urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to intervene. He called for the ECI to ensure the security of all candidates and to protect the integrity of the electoral process from coercion and intimidation. Kishor stated, 'Democracy is being murdered. There has been no such precedent in the country.' He further accused the BJP of attempting to 'replicate the Surat model,' where a candidate was elected unopposed due to coerced withdrawals.

Despite these setbacks, Kishor affirmed that the Jan Suraaj Party would continue to contest the elections fiercely. With the withdrawal of these three candidates, the JSP is now set to contest 240 of the 243 Assembly seats in Bihar. The Jan Suraaj Party, founded by Prashant Kishor on October 2, 2024, had previously announced its first list of 51 candidates on October 9, 2025, followed by a second list of 65 candidates on October 13, 2025.