Prashant Kishor 2.0: The Election Strategist Who Wants to Rewrite Bihar's Politics
Post by Admin on Friday, Nov 07, 2025
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Prashant Kishor, a prominent political strategist in India, has significantly influenced election campaigns over the past decade.
Prashant Kishor is no ordinary political consultant. In fact, he dislikes the label altogether. Yet, over the past decade, Kishor has come to embody the very idea of political strategy in India as a man who doesn't just design campaigns but redefines how elections are fought and won.
Kishor has worked with politicians across the ideological spectrum, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his meteoric rise to power in 2014 to Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee in her historic third-term victory against a resurgent BJP in 2021. A master of narrative and numbers, Kishor's reputation as a behind-the-scenes tactician who can turn political tides has earned him titles like "election magician" and "India's best-known political strategist."
The Making of a Strategist
Born in Bihar and trained as a public health expert, Prashant Kishor's tryst with politics began not in a newsroom or a rally, but with data. His first major campaign came in 2011, when he helped then–Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi secure a third consecutive term in the 2012 assembly elections. The success of that campaign earned him Modi's trust and immense visibility.
In 2013, Kishor founded Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), and the group became the creative and analytical powerhouse behind the BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha campaign, which changed Indian politics forever.
Kishor is credited with conceptualising some of the most memorable ideas of that election like Chai Pe Charcha, 3D rallies, mass conclaves, and an unprecedented social media outreach. When Modi came to power with a historic majority, Kishor emerged as the quiet architect of that victory.
From Consultant to Kingmaker
After 2014, Kishor parted ways with the BJP and reinvented himself as an independent strategist for several other parties. His team, working under the banner of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), powered Nitish Kumar's JD(U) to a decisive win in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections.
In 2016-17, he turned his attention to Punjab, helping Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh reclaim the state in a landslide. His team's meticulous groundwork was widely credited for the party's win. However, his subsequent assignment for the party, the Uttar Pradesh elections, failed to yield similar results, offering Kishor a rare setback in an otherwise stellar run.
By 2018, Kishor had joined JD(U) formally, but differences with party chief Nitish Kumar led to his expulsion by January 2020. Unfazed, he continued to lend his strategic prowess elsewhere, most notably to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party in 2020, which went on to sweep the Delhi Assembly elections.
A New Chapter: From Strategy to Leadership
In May 2021, Kishor announced that he was stepping away from political consulting altogether. "Those who wish to work for Bihar's transformation can join me," he told his team, hinting at a bigger personal mission ahead.
That mission took shape in October 2024, when Kishor launched his own political party—the Jan Suraaj Party. The move marked his formal transition from backroom strategist to frontline politician. True to his style, he announced that Jan Suraaj would contest all 243 seats in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections this year.
Interestingly, Kishor himself decided to not contest, choosing instead to focus on strengthening the organisation and building a long-term vision for governance. His campaign promises centered on education, employment, and transparency reflect his emphasis on reform rather than rhetoric.
The Gambler’s Prediction
While Bihar's politics has long revolved around caste equations, Kishor's strategy attempts to blend social engineering with a development-first narrative. This is why he believes the gamble could either reshape the state's politics or sink his fledgling outfit. And Kishor has made a bold prediction about his party's fate.
"We will either win handsomely or receive a drubbing," he told PTI in an interview. "Either fewer than 10 seats or more than 150. Nothing in between."
For a man who has helped others script political history, the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections will be a test not just of his strategy but of his ability to turn ideas into votes. Whether or not Jan Suraaj becomes Bihar's next big political story will be clear on November 14.
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