NEW DELHI: One of the big takeaways from the Bihar Assembly election results has been the fact that there has been no significant traction for the Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj Party (JSP).
JD(U) workers in Bihar are targeting Kishor who failed to garner enough votes. Kishor had earlier declared that the JD(U) would never cross the mark of 25 seats and that if it crossed this, he would call it quits. Some observers claim these claims energised JD(U) supporters, making them vote more aggressively and collectively reject the JSP during the polls.
Kishor, who boasts about having played a key role in bringing many parties to power, toured the state for a year, launching slogans that initially caught public attention. While many expected him to contest the election, his decision to withdraw from the scene was at the receiving end of criticism.
Initially, the JSP appeared to be leading in a few seats, but as the day progressed and counting moved ahead, the candidates began trailing. A JDU leader said Prashant Kishor's remarks on JD(U) "vanished like darkness soon after the sun started rising".
The opposition Mahagathbandhan, meanwhile, had an outing to forget.
While the Congress floundered, the RJD also served one of its worst-ever showings.
On a day when the NDA registered a landslide win, RJD leader Tejashwi even had to suffer the ignominy of trailing in the safe seat of Raghopur against BJP candidate Satish Kumar, who describes himself as a son of the soil.
A resident of Raghopur had criticised Tejashwi for not turning up during the floods, and the BJP candidate highlighted this strongly during the campaign.
One opposition party that found reasons to celebrate was Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, which seems to be on course to better its showing in the 2020 elections. The AIMIM, which won five seats in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region during those elections, may go one better this time around if the leads hold.