Prashant Kishor's prediction for Jan Suraaj in Bihar Assembly polls: 'Less than 10 or...'

Prashant Kishor

Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has predicted that his Jan Suraaj Party would win either under 10 seats or more than 150 in the upcoming Bihar polls.

Kishor announced the launch of his party last year -- exactly two years after he had embarked on a more than 3,000-km-long ‘padayatra’ of Bihar.

On being questioned over how many seats his party could bag in its debut election, Kishor said leaders are expected to come and say that they are winning. “I can see two probabilities. People have seen Jan Suraaj as an alternative, but voting requires a leap of faith. People need a leap of faith because of the prolonged phase of hopelessness,” he told NDTV during an event focused on Bihar polls.

Kishor -- known for crafting campaigns for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014 and for parties like the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and Congress among other -- said he is now making contenders contest the elections.

“We are making contenders contest polls. The only difference is that we have created a new formation to execute this. If we look at the PM Modi campaign in 2014 (which I took care of), it was a new format as the CM of a state became a national leader. There is no big difference," he said.

When questioned on why he is not contesting the upcoming polls, he said, "I never declared that I would contest the election from even one seat. I said if I were to contest, I would do it from Kargahar. I'm not the X factor."

Earlier, Kishor had reiterated that the fight in the upcoming election is between NDA and Jan Suraaj and added that Mahagathbandhan will finish at third position.

Voting for the 243-seat Bihar Assembly will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, with the results to be declared on November 14.