Prashant Kishor alleges BJP forced 3 Jan Suraaj candidates to quit, urges EC to act

Patna: Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Tuesday alleged that three candidates of his Jan Suraaj Party in the Bihar elections withdrew their nominations under "pressure" from the BJP.

Addressing a press conference, Kishor alleged that the ruling NDA was so scared of losing the elections that it was threatening opposition candidates to withdraw from the race.

"Democracy is being murdered. There has been no such precedent in the country," he alleged, urging the Election Commission to ensure the security of the candidates.

The candidates who withdrew from the race were fielded in the Danapur, Brahampur, and Gopalganj seats, he said.

"The BJP is trying to replicate the Surat model, in which their candidate got elected unopposed, as all other nominees were coerced to pull out. The BJP does not realise that voters had punished it across the country for it, and it won just 240 seats, though it had bragged that the tally would be 400-plus in last year's Lok Sabha polls," he added.

Kishor's party had announced candidates for all 243 seats in Bihar. With the withdrawal of three candidates from the race, it will now fight on 240 seats as the last date for filing of nominations has already passed.