PK’s clean politics pitch hits Bihar’s caste wall: Why master strategist failed to script his own win

Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor during a roadshow ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, in Saran, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (PTI Photo)

For all his reputation as India’s top political strategist, Prashant Kishor’s debut in Bihar has ended in disappointment. His much-publicised Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), launched with the promise of transforming Bihar’s politics, failed to win even a single seat of the 238 it contested in the 2025 Assembly elections. For Kishor, who once engineered victories for several national and regional parties, his own electoral experiment has become a sobering lesson in the limits of strategy without structure.

Kishor had envisioned Jan Suraaj as a clean, people-driven alternative to Bihar’s caste-dominated politics. His campaign focused on governance, education, job creation, and migration -- issues that resonated with sections of urban and younger voters. He travelled across districts on his “padyatra,” pitching himself as a reformer who stood above political divisions.

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Yet, despite the energy and symbolism, the message did not cut through. The JSP could not build a solid social coalition or translate enthusiasm into votes. Bihar’s deeply entrenched caste equations once again determined outcomes, leaving Kishor’s idealism stranded.

As political analyst Amitabh Tiwari noted, in conversation with Moneycontrol, Kishor overlooked one of the most decisive segments of the electorate: the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs). “He cannot afford to ignore the caste factor, and he also did not target the EBC vote bank effectively,” Tiwari observed. In Bihar, where over 90 percent of constituencies are shaped by social identity and patronage networks, Kishor’s governance-first approach struggled to find traction.

Unlike Arvind Kejriwal’s success story in Delhi, which was built on a strong organisational network and local volunteers, Kishor’s Jan Suraaj remained heavy on message but light on ground mobilisation. His campaign excelled in digital reach and optics, but the absence of a grassroots cadre or meaningful alliances severely limited its impact.

Tiwari dismissed the comparison drawn by several political pundits between Prashant Kishor and Arvind Kejriwal, arguing that the trajectories of their parties were fundamentally different. He noted that the Aam Aadmi Party emerged from the high-voltage Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, which had already mobilised a massive urban middle-class constituency hungry for political change. Jan Suraaj, he said, did not enjoy the advantage of such a nationwide socio-political wave. Instead, it was attempting to build its organisation “from the ground up,” relying on Kishor’s credibility and grassroots outreach rather than a pre-existing mass movement. According to Tiwari, equating the two was an oversimplification that ignored the unique circumstances that shaped each party’s rise.

Despite the electoral failure, Kishor’s push to move the conversation beyond caste and corruption has added something valuable to Bihar’s political discourse. His consistent focus on education, employment, and governance introduced issues that transcend identity politics. However, good ideas alone cannot win elections in Bihar without a solid social base to carry them.

The complete washout leaves Kishor at a crossroads. He can either retreat from electoral politics and return to his role as a behind-the-scenes strategist or double down and spend the next few years building a true grassroots organisation. Bihar’s verdict makes one thing clear: political credibility in the state cannot be built through messaging alone.

For Prashant Kishor, the election outcome serves as a reminder that politics rewards persistence, organisation, and caste arithmetic as much as vision and ideas. The strategist who once helped others win now faces the challenge of rebuilding his own experiment from the ground up.